Teen Bionic Werewolf
by OneVictoriousWolf
Summary: Jade West is the new girl at Mission Creek high who Adam can't help form a crush on. Leo convinces Adam to go on a night search to look for a half-cut body in the woods which only leads to rash consequences on Adam when he finds out something nerve-rackin
1. Chapter 1

_**Jade - Allison **_

_**Adam - Scott **_

_**Beck - Isaac**_

_**Leo - Boyd**_

_**Cat - Lydia **_

_**Robbie - Aidan **_

_**Janelle - Malia **_

_**Chase - Stiles**_

_**Marcus - Ethan **_

_**Ryder - Derek Hale **_

_**Tori - Erica **_

_**Trent - Jackson **_

_**Bree - Kira**_

_There'll be some changes. They are listed below. _

_Jade will be new to Mission Creek. She never knew Cat, Andre, Tori, Beck, and Robbie. _

_Cat will not be that dumb, and neither will Adam. _

_Jade will not be that mean. _

_Adam will not be related to Chase, Leo, and Bree. Tasha will not be in this story. Leo will be living with his dad. Adam's last name will still be Davenport. The sport will be Lacrosse instead of Basketball. Some Victorious characters will not be in this, like Andre and Robbie and maybe also some Lab Rats characters unless a new character comes in at some point. Chase's last name will be Unger like the actor who plays him. _

Summary: It started on a late summer night. Two boys went out looking for a body half in sight. They didn't have a plan. Only one got caught, leaving the other by himself, getting lost in the dark. He realized he wasn't alone when he heard a howl in the dark. He could've been killed, but it only left a mark.

Adam Davenport was fixing the laces of his lacrosse stick. The work is fast and precise. Fixing he last loop, Adam gets up and stands with the re-threaded stick. Dressed in only a pair of athletic shorts, his lithe frame may still have some filling out to do, but it's easy to see that he'll soon grow into a strikingly handsome young man with deep brown eyes yet designed to melt the hearts of hopeful young girls.

Scooping a ball up from his bedroom floor, he gives the lacrosse stick a spin, testing his handiwork. A moment later, the re-threaded stick lands next to a school backpack while Adam pumps out a few chin-ups at the bar mounted at the doorway of his closet.

Then, toothbrush in his mouth, he reaches for the window sill to pull it down. But he stops when he hears a sound. He cocks his ear to listen again. Under the whispering wind, he hears movement, a strange shuffling noise.

Adam silently slips into the hallway and peers into another bed room. His mom, Melissa Davenport, late thirties, both remarkably strong and remarkably beautiful, sleeps over the covers of her bed, fully clothed as if she'd just passed out after having walked in. Adam eases her door shut.

The glass door to the porch slides open. Now armed with a baseball bat, Adam starts for the yard. Breath held tight, he moves cautiously off the porch steps. The sound of movement stops him cold.

Holding still, he peers left and right as he white-knuckles the bat, ready to swing. When his eyes wonder up to the side of the house, he sees a dark figure climbing the vine wrapped trellis. Before Adam even knows what's happing, the figure breaks free and comes hurtling towards him. He almost swings the bat before realizing who it is; his best friend since childhood, Chase Unger.

"Chase! What the hell are you doing!?" Adam asked _loudly_.

"You weren't answering your phone!" Chase notices the bat. "Why do you have a bat?"

"I thought you were a predator."

"A pre..." Chase scoffed. Feet caught in the trellis, he hangs in front of Adam. A sixteen year-old with boundless energy, he continues talking upside down as if this were a perfectly normal way to have a conversation.

"I know it's late, but you gotta hear this. I saw my dad leave twenty minutes ago. Dispatch called. They're bringing in every officer from the Mission Creek department and even State police."

Adam asks, "For what?"

"Two joggers found a body in the woods."

"They found a dead body?"

"No, they found a body of water." Chase answers sarcastically. "Yes, dumb-butt, it was a dead body." Reaching up to pull himself free of the trellis, he lands on his feet in front of Adam.

"You mean like murdered?"

"Nobody knows yet." Chase responded. "They just know that it was a girl, probably in her twenties."

"Hold on...if they found a body, what are they looking for now?"

"That's the best part; they only found half." Chase smacks his lips and smirks. "We're going."

Soon, a beat-up jeep skids to a halt just beyond the heavily wooded entrance to the Mission Creek preserve. Chase gets out with a flashlight in hand. Adam follows, hurrying to keep up with him as he charges into the hiking paths.

Adam asks, "Are we seriously doing this?"

"You're the one always bitching that nothing ever happens in this town. Besides, it's our last night of summer freedom."

"I was trying to get a good night's sleep for practice tomorrow."

"Right, because sitting on the bench is such a grueling effort."

"No, because I'm playing this year; in fact, I'm going to make starting lineup."

"That's the spirit!" Chase exclaims. "Everyone should have a dream...even a pathetically unrealistic one."

"Just out of curiosity, which half of the body are we looking for?"

"Huh...I didn't even think about that."

Adam asks, "What if whoever killed the girl is still out here?"

"That's also something I didn't think about."

"It's comforting to know you planned this out with your usual attention to detail." Adam commented. Racing up the paths, his breath begins to shorten. "Maybe the severe asthmatic should be the one holding the flashlight."

Chase slows, but not because of Adam. Outside a clearing, yellow police tape marks off a perimeter under floodlights. Grinning, Chase looks to Adam who can't help grinning back. Crouching low, they circle the crime scene, looking for the best vantage point. But they freeze at the sound of zipper being pulled up on a body bag. Two bare feet are momentarily visible as the zipper pulls close and officers lift the body up into the Medical Examiner's van.

"Is that the second half of the body?" Adam asked.

"No, they would've called off the search." Chase responded. "Come on." He and Adam retreat from the perimeter back into the dark of the woods. As they crest a hill, Adam pauses. Below, flashlight beams scour the shadows, the police search just ahead. Unable to stand still Chase races forward.

"Chase, wait up." Adam calls out to him, but Chase doesn't wait. But quickly running out of air, Adam pulls out his inhaler from his jacket. While he pauses to take a hit from it, Chase disappears up ahead. Then, realizing he's left Adam behind, he slows to look back when barking spins him around.

Fanged teeth snap ferociously at him, sending him staggering away and falling right onto his butt. Search dogs yank back against their leashes just before tearing them apart. "Stay right there!" A state trooper calls out.

Adam freezes. It's not him the state trooper was yelling at, however. Peering out from behind a tree, he sees Chase has run right into a search party. Flashlight beams in his eyes; the boy puts his hands in the air as large, threatening figures hurry forward.

Deputy Unger steps into the light past the growling search dogs. Chase shrinks under his glare. "Hold on, hold on, this little delinquent belongs to me." He asks Chase, "Son, do you listen in on all of my phone calls?"

"No...Not the boring ones."

"And where's your usual partner in crime?"

"Who, Adam...? Adam's at home. He said he wanted to get a good night's sleep for the first day back at school."

Deputy Unger calls out, "Adam, you out there?" Hidden in the shadows, Adam doesn't move. "Alright, young man, I'm taking you back to your car and we're going to discuss a little something we like to call Invasion of Privacy." Deputy was still suspicious.

Watching Chase get escorted away, Adam steps out from the cover of the trees with an irritated sigh. Starting back, he tries to find his way out of the woods, but with each step, it becomes increasingly difficult to see in the pitch black.

At a fork in the path, he pauses in confusion. He's about to start off down one direction when he hears a rustling among the trees. Adam holds still. Breath tightening more from fear than asthma, he reaches into his pocket for his inhaler when he hears an odd rumbling. The sound of sudden and furious movement rising in volume velocity until half a dozen deer charge out of the darkness, soaring past him with the thunderous beat of hooves trampling the ground. Startled, Adam drops the inhaler.

Then, once again alone in the dark, he kneels down to the leaf-covered ground to search for the inhaler. Pulling out his cellphone, he lights the display. Guiding the phone's light over the ground, Adam doesn't find his inhaler, but does manage to briefly illuminate a face. Dead eyes peer from the pale, yet beautiful face of a young woman torn in half. Crying out in shock, Adam lurches up, tripping on his own feet and tumbling over the unearthed roots of a tree. Suddenly, he's propelled down a leaf-covered slope, rolling head over heels right into a creek bed.

Pushing himself up from the icy water, a breathless Adam looks up at the embankment down which he just fell. He's about to stand when a low growl stops him moving, and stops his breathing. Something crouches in the shadows right near him. It was something very large. Adam slowly begins to turn around when a shape hurtles toward him. For the briefest instant, there's a flash of razor-sharp teeth. Adam twists forward, crying out. Then, seeming to disentangle himself from the attacking animal, he scrambles back to his feet and into a panicked run.

Whipping through branches tearing at his skin and clothes, he races blindly through the forest until he reaches a barbed wire fence. With barely a second to coordinate his effort, he lurches over the wire, shirt catching and tearing across the barbs. Crashing out of the woods and into the road, Adam whirls around to face an oncoming car. The driver swerves, almost clipping him. Horn blaring, the car hurtles past. Breathless, Adam away from the woods. With the world spinning around him, dark blood sticks his tattered shirt to his back over a deep vicious looking bite. Struggling for calm, he whips around when he hears the strangest sound, THE HOWLING OF A WOLF.

It echoes through the hills, over the trees, across the rooftops, and into the night.

_**[First Day of School]**_

A school bell rings in the crowded hallway. At their lockers, Adam takes off his backpack and pulls his shirt up a few inches to show Chase the bandage on his lower back. Adam says, "It was too dark to see much, but I'm pretty sure it was a wolf."

"...a wolf bit you?" Chase asked. "No, not a chance."

"I heard a wolf howling."

"No, you didn't."

"What do you mean 'No, I didn't'? How do you know what I head?"

Chase responds, "California doesn't have wolves; not for the last sixty years."

"Really...?"

"Yes, really, there are no wolves in California."

"Well, if you don't believe me about the wolf, then you're definitely not going to believe me when I tell you I saw the body." Adam confessed and Chase's jaw dropped.

"You, what, are you kidding me?"

"I wish." He answered. "I'm going to have nightmares about it for a month."

"That's freaking awesome. This is seriously the best thing that's happened to this town since..." Chase looks behind Adam to see a red-headed girl walking down the corridor. "...since the birth of Cat Valentine who's walking towards us right now."

A drop-dead gorgeous junior named Cat Valentine walks the hallway like it was a fashion show runway in Milan. "Hey, Cat, how are you? You look..." Cat walks right past him. "...like you're going to ignore me." Adam lets out a laugh and Chase glares at him, saying, "You're the cause of this you know, dragging me down to your nerd depths. I'm a nerd by association. I've been scarlet-nerded by you."

Blending into the crowd, they head to first period.

_**[First Period: English]**_

In first period English, Adam takes the desk next to Chase as the teacher, Mr. Curtis walks in. "As you all know by now, there was indeed a body found in the woods last night. I'm sure you're eager little minds are coming up with all sorts of macabre scenarios as to how it happened, but I've been told that the police have a suspect in custody." Mr. Curtis speaks, walking down the aisles, handing out papers. Adam looks at Chase who shrugs; news to him as well. Mr. Curtis continues, "A vagrant with a long history of psychiatric disorders was discovered camping out in the woods near where the body was found which means your undivided attention can be given to the syllabus outlining the semester on your desks. Read it now; and by read, I don't mean skim.

The sound of paper pages flipping rumbles toward Adam as students start reading. It's strangely loud, causing his ears to twitch especially when a cell phone rings. He glances up. The other students quietly read the syllabus. Adam appears to be the only one noticing the ringing. Gazing about, he can't seem to find the source until his eyes fall on the windows of the classroom. Across the quad, Adam sees Jade West, sixteen and radiating with innocent beauty. When she puts a cell phone to her ear, it becomes obvious that, despite the closed window and the distance, this is the ringing Adam is somehow able to hear.

More astonishingly, Adam can hear both Jade and her caller, their voices echoing with a tinny effect. (Jade - Italics, Caller - Bold, Principal - Underlined).

"_Mom, three calls on my first day is a little overdoing it." _

"**I'm just making sure you're there okay and you got everything you need." **

But Jade digs through her bag, becoming alarmed, _"I have everything except a pen. Oh, my god, I didn't actually forget a pen." _

"**Don't panic; I'm sure you can borrow one from another student." **

"_Okay, okay, I gotta go. Love ya." _Unable to take his eyes off the extraordinary girl, Adam watches the school's principal joins her on the steps.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." The principal guides her across the quad, their conversation becoming clearer to Adam with every step. "So, you were saying San Francisco isn't where you grew up?"

"_No, but we stayed for more than a year which is unusual in my family. We always bounce around a lot because of my dad's work." _Even when Jade and the principal disappear from view, Adam hears the clatter of the building door opening, the clicking of their heels on the tile floor of the hall.

"Well, hopefully, Mission Creek is your last stop for a while." The door opens, causing the rest of the of the class to look up. Jade and the principle walk in. "Class, this is our new student, Jade West. Please do your best to make her feel welcome."

Adam barely breathes as Jade heads for the one empty desk left in the room; right behind him. She puts her notebook down, and then glances up to see Adam turned toward her, holding out a pen. With a relieved but curious smile, she takes it from him. "Thanks." He gives her a nod. Turning around, his gaze focuses on Chase's desk where his friend's sunglasses sit. In the mirrored lenses, Adam can see Jade reflected behind him and he can't take his eyes off her.

"Okay, let's begin with Kafka..."

_**[Cafeteria]**_

Silence, then the doors of the cafeteria push open. As Adam steps in, the cacophony of high school lunch period slams into him and every sound assaults him with pin-drop clarity. "Are you alright?" Chase asks Adam, who is just standing there. Overwhelmed, Adam doesn't even hear him. His hands come up to his ears to cover when he sees Jade in the room, paying for her food.

The cashier breaks a roll of quarters, but the coins spill to the floor. Adam hears each one plink against the tile. Jade immediately kneels to help the embarrassed cashier, giving a good-hearted smile to the grateful woman while the other students just stand by and wait impatiently. Then Jade notices Adam and they connect eyes. Somehow, just this look from her seems to return from his hearing to normal. She starts to smile back, recognizing him. But Cat Valentine swoops in front of her. (Jade - Italic, Cat - Bold, Trent - Underlined).

"**That jacket is absolutely killer." **Cat compliments. **"Where did you get it?" **

"_My mom was a buyer for a boutique back in San Francisco." _

"**You're sitting with me." **Taking Jade by the arm, she guides her to the popular table. Trent Whitmore, Cat's boyfriend, pulls her toward his lap, but she brushes him off, still talking to Jade. A few tables away, Adam sits with Chase and their friend Rebecca Harlow, better known as Harley.

Harley asks, "Can somebody tell me how the new girl is here all of five minutes and she's already at Cat's table?"

"That's because she's hot. Beautiful people herd together." Chase says.

"Is that why Cat's not herding with you?"

"Cat is a long-term project okay? And trust me; I've got all the patience in the world for a high yield investment like her."

"Well, I don't think the New Girl's that pretty. Adam, do you think she's pretty?" She asks. He doesn't even blink, attention consumed by Jade. "Adam?"

"I'd take that as a yes." Chase remarks. Head cocked slightly, Adam tunes in the conversation across the room, voices coming into focus. (Jade - Italics, Trent - Underlined, Cat - bold)

"_A party...?" _

"It's Friday Night. We could go together."

"_I can't. It's Family Night this Friday, but thanks for asking." _

"Are you sure? Everyone's going after the scrimmage game."

"_You mean like football?"_

"Football is a joke at Mission Creek High. The sport here is Lacrosse. We won the state championship the last three years..."

"**...Because of a certain captain." **

"Every season starts with a scrimmage to decide the new first string. Do you ever watch Lacrosse?" Chase notices Adam watching Cat's table intently; not merely staring, but seeming to listen. "Maybe you should just come see for yourself. We have practice today. You don't have to be anywhere after school, do you?"

"_Well, no..." _

"**Perfect. You're coming."** Cat interrupts her.

**[Lacrosse Practice]**

A whistle blows and the Lacrosse team's Assistant Coach gathers the team on the field, Chase and Adam are lagging alone. Chase asks, "Just think about this. If you play I'll have no one to talk to on the bench. You're really going to do that to your best friend?"

"I can't sit out again. My whole life is sitting on the sidelines. This season, I make my first string."

Heading for the field, he pauses to notice Cat climbing the bleachers, and stepping right behind her is Jade. "Davenport, you're on goal!" The coach shouts towards Adam. He trots over to the coach, a man with little comprehension of the difficulties of teenage life.

"But I never played goal."

"I know, but scoring some shots will give the boys a confidence boost. It's a first day back thing. Get them energized, jazzed out."

Adam asks, "What about me?"

"Try not to take any in the face." Stepping into the next, Adam glances to the bleachers where Jade watches with Cat, eyes focusing on them.

"_Him...? I'm not sure who is. Why?" _Adam overhears Cat ask Jade.

"_He's in my English class."_ Jade responds. Adam looks up, shocked to hear Jade asking about him, but with his hearing momentarily turned up; he flinches at the whistle blow, sound ringing through his skull. One of the bigger player's charges forward as the Assistant Coach passes the ball to him. Catching it, he whips the stick forward, hurling the ball toward the goal. Still reeling from the whistle, Adam looks up too late to see the ball soaring toward him. It bounces right off the helmet and into the net. The team laughs wickedly, even the coach snickers.

With cheeks burning under his mask, Adam steals himself for the next player. When the whistle blows again, he's ready. The assistant Coach passes the ball to the player who catches it and fires it right at the goal. Adam moves startlingly fast, almost an instantaneous reaction. Then he notices the player staring at him with a mixture of disappointment and surprise. Adam has the ball. He caught it. When the next player takes the shot, Adam catches the ball again, and then again, and again. Nothing can get past him. In the bleachers Jade and Cat sit forward.

"He seems like he's pretty good." Jade compliments.

"Very good..." Cat adds. Intrigued Cat keeps her gaze locked on Adam who now stands with a far more confident posture until Trent pushes to the head of the line. Glaring at Adam, he practically strangles the lacrosse stick with his gloves. The Assistant Coach tosses the ball up. Trent launches forward, catching the ball and spinning around to fire it at the goal. But Beck moves with supernatural precision. The ball lands right in the pocket of the goalie's stick.

Chase lets out a holler, jumping on the bench. In the bleachers, Cat stands and gives a whoop as well causing Trent to throw a look at her. She returns his glare with a sly smile, a warning to step up his game. Grinning, Adam gives the goalie stick a whirl, spinning it with a flick of his wrist and sending the ball soaring right into the pocket of the stunned Assistant Coach's stick.


	2. Chapter 2

_**[Forest]**_

Adam retraces his steps from last night with Chase following behind him. Adam explains the experience at school and lacrosse practice, "I don't know what it was. I mean I felt like I had all the time in the world to catch the ball. And that's not the only weird thing; I mean, I can hear stuff I shouldn't be able to hear and I can smell things.

"You can smell things like what?" Chase asked.

"Things like the mint mojito gum in your pocket."

"I don't have any." Chase pulls out a lint-covered piece of wrapped gum.

"So, all this started with the bite?" Chase asked.

"What if it's an infection? What if my body is flooding with adrenaline before I fall into shock? I knew I should've gone to the E.R."

"I've actually hear of this." Chase responded. "It's a specific kind of infection."

"Are you serious?"

"All symptoms add up. I think it's called _Lycanthropy_."

"What's that? Is that bad?" Adam asked. "It sounds bad."

"It is, but only once a month."

"It happens only once a month?"

"Yeah, on the night of the full moon."

"You're an ass." Adam slaps him on the arm, getting what he ment. Chase chuckles and catches his balance.

"Hey, you're the one who heard a wolf howling." Chase defends himself.

"There could be something seriously wrong with me." Adam states.

"I know! You're a werewolf! Okay, obviously, I'm kidding, but if you see me in shop class melting down all the silver I can find, it's because Friday's a full moon."

Adam glances around. "I swear this was it. The body was here. The deer came running, I dropped my inhaler..." He trails off.

Chase suggested, "Maybe the killer moved the body."

"If he did, I hope he left my inhaler. Those things are like eighty bucks."

Chase taps him on the arm, bringing his attention to a figure standing just a few yards away. Ryder Daniels; nineteen and unquestionably handsome, has a rougher look than the cleanly shaven Mission Creek boys.

Ryder asks, "What are you doing here?" Both Adam and Chase are too stunned to speak at first. Ryder continues. "This is private property."

Chase responds, "Sorry, we didn't know."

"We were just looking for something. Forget it. Sorry to bother you." Adam apologizes. As they're turning to go, Ryder tosses an object to Adam which was his inhaler. When he looks up, Ryder is already walking away. Adam turns to Chase and says, "Come on I have to work."

"Dude, that was Ryder Daniels." Chase stops him from walking away. "You remember, right? He's only a few years older than us."

"What?" Adam asks his friend who is suddenly interested about the guy they seen just seconds ago.

"His family; they all burned to death in a fire like ten years ago. I remember the cops pulling him out to tell him."

"I wonder what he's doing back." Adam eyes the inhaler in his hand, closing his fist in it.

_**[Veterinary Clinic]**_

Inside the town's lone veterinary clinic, Adam flips the sign on the door to CLOSED and then grabs a few packages off the reception desk. The door to a storage room opens into the corridor. Adam backs out, hauling a huge bag of kitty litter. Setting it against the wall, he takes out a set of keys and unlocks the next door. But just before pulling it open, he pauses, hand gripping the doorknob as he listens to the utterly silent clinic. And then he hears it, rain, the pattering of drops on the roof.

He twists the knob and opens the door. He barely has a foot inside the room when the cages fillwed with cats come alive with activity. The frightened felines suddenly bare their teeth, hissing and clawing frenetically at the cage doors. All of them focused on Adam, their backs arched, struck with absolute terror. Stunned, he staggers out of the room, slamming the door shut.

Retreating into the waiting room, Adam can still hear the pandemonium coming from the inside when a hammering spins him around. Standing outside and banging on the glass door with her fist is Jade. Rain-soaked, it's nevertheless easy to see that she's crying and in a visible panic. Quickly unlocking the door, Adam lets her in as she tries to explain through tears what happened.

"I didn't see it." Jade suddenly says. "I took my two seconds to switch songs on my iPod and this dog...it came out of nowhere..."

"Okay, it's all right. Do you remember where it happened so I can sendout animal control to find it?" Adam asked.

"No. I mean, yes. I know where I hit it. But the dog..."

"Right, where is it?"

"It's in my car." Following Jade to her car under the now drizzling rain, Adam opens the back seat door to reveal an injured stray. Hackles raised, the frightened lab mix is clearly in pain. Jade reaches in to pick him up, but the dog snaps at her. She flinches back, stepping right into Adam's arms.

"You okay?" He asks her. She nods, looking up at Adam behind her, his hands on her forearms, fingers lightl touching her soft skin. He assures her, "He's just frightened."

"That makes two of us." Jade remarks.

"Let me see if I have better luck." Once he lets her go, he steps toward the open door oddly calm.

"Careful." She warns. As he connects eye with the dog, something happens. A sound drops out around him all except for the dog's nervous panting. Then its harsh gasps begin to ease as some sort of primal communication occurs between them. For the briefest moment, his eyes take on a strangely yellow tint, like that of a wolf. In response, the dog lowers its body submissively, yielding to the obviously dominant animal. With Jade watching in amazement, Adam gathers the dog into his arms and carries him into the vet's office. Inside, Adam gently lays the injured animal down on the examining table. Jade stays back, watching him inspect the dog while petting it, doing an expert job of calming it.

"I think his leg is broken; I can splint it now. I can give him a painkiller and then let the doctor take a look in the morning." He says. Jade steals glances at him, looking on with admiration as she works. But Adam doesn't notice, terrified to glance at the beautiful girl. When he finally does look up, he sees she's hugging herself, soaked and obviously freezing.

"I have a T-shirt in my bag." He offers.

"Oh, I don't want to trouble you." She says, but Adam is already reaching into his bag for the shirt. She takes it with a small smile. When she steps in the hall for privacy, Adam can't help but notice her reflection in a wall mirror. As she's pulling the wet shirt off, he catches sight of her bare back. Looking away, Adam notices the dog staring up him.

"What? I didn't see anything." He says. The dog doesn't look convinced. Jade comes back, now wearing his shirt and no longer shivering.

"Thanks for doing this. I feel really stupid."

"How come...?" Adam asked.

"I don't know; for freaking out like a total girl."

Adam states, "You are a girl."

"I freaked out like a girly girl. I'm not a girly girl."

"What kind of girl are you?" He asked.

"I'm tougher than that...at least I thought I was."

"I'd be freaked out too. In fact, I'd probably cry." Adam teased. "And not like a man. I'd cry like the girliest girl cry. It would be pathetic." She laughs.

"Yeah, whatever."

Adam finishes wrapping the dog's leg. "So it looks like he's going to live, and I'm pretty sure he'll even let you pet him if you want." Adam says.

"I don't think so."

"Come on. You don't want him to sue. This breed is very litigious." Jade approaches and tentatively reaches out to stroke the dog's neck. Calm now, the dog even licks her hand.

"See? He likes you." He watches Jade, unable to take his eyes off of her. She notices his stare.

"What?"

"Sorry. You have an eyelash on your cheek."

"Oh, it's from the crying." She wipes at her cheek, but the lash is still there. He shakes his head. She tries again; still there. So Adam reaches with his thumb to brush the lash.

"Thanks." He nods, hand coming down like he's quite not sure what do do with it. After their moment, he walks her back to her car when he suddenly as a question when she opens the car door.

"Um...I was wondering...I mean...is it really Family Night on Friday or do you think maybe you'd like to go to that party with me?" She throws him a curious look. How did he know about that?

"Family Night was a total lie." She admits.

"So, is that a _yes_, you'll go?"

"Definitely yes..."

_**[Later]**_

Tearing down the road on his bike, a huge smile nearly splits Adam's face in half. He's ecstatic, jubilant, but not for long. He slows. Smile fading, something has caught his attention. He eases to a stop on the rain-slick road and holds still. Turning his head up, he takes a quick whiff of the air. Slowly, he turns around to find dark surrounding him on all sides. The road is completely empty and strangely quiet. Then sound of movement catches his ear. He turns, peering into the forest; nothing. He starts pedaling again, glancing to each side of him as he picks up speed.

Then he notices a shadow moving through the woods, keeping pace with him. When he starts pedaling faster, that strange loping silhouette moves just as fast.

Pedaling harder and harder, Adam pushes the bike to its limits, steel chain threatening to come off. The shadow slows, letting him get ahead. Not at all relieved, Adam keeps going, looking back to see something large and fast crossing the road just a few yards behind him, diving into the dark of the woods. Now on the other side of the and driving Adam's panic higher and higher, it keeps pace with him once again until it disappears.

A breathless Adam gives a last glance back to the woods on both sides, then forward where a truck veers out in front of him, an eighteen wheeler coming from a side of the road. Adam hits the breaks, the truck looming before him. Bike crashing against the hood of the cab, it flips and smacks him on the road, metal scraping pavement as it clatters to a stop.

The truck driver jumps out, glancing around in panic, but there's nobody on the ground. He finally peers up where Adam stands on top of the car.

"What the hell?" The driver is shocked. Breathless, Adam is too stunned to even answer.

_**[Lacrosse Practice - Next Day]**_

Amid the players rushing the field, a very late Chase finds Adam in the crowd and hurries toward him. "Adam, wait up!" He calls him. "You gotta hear this."

"I'm playing the first elimination, Chase." Adam responds. "Can't it wait?"

"Just hold on. I over heard my dad on the phone. The fiber analysis report came back from Mission Creek and they found animal hairs on the body from the woods."

"Chase, I have to go."

"You're not going to believe what the animal was." But with his helment off, Adam disappears in the crowd of other players rushing the field, leaving Chase to say the next words to himself, "It was a wolf."

Out on the field, the coach shouts for the players, "Alright, gather around..." Adam glances back to the bleachers where students and parents sit to watch the special scrimmage. He spots Jade next to Cat. She gives him a quick wave and a smile. He holds up a hand to wave back. "You got a question, Davenport?" The coach asks. Adam looks in his direction.

"What?"

"You raised your hand."

"Oh, no I was just...nothing. Sorry."

The coach starts talking to the rest of the team, "Alright, you know how this goes. If you don't make the cut, you're most likely warming the bench the rest of the season. But make first string and you play, your parents are proud, your girlfriend loves you, everything else is cream cheese. Now show me what you got."

The whistle blows and the game begins. The pace is fast and brutal. When the ball gets passed to Adam, Trent comes right after him. Lacrosse sticks smacking down on his gloves, Adam tumbles forward and slams to the ground, kicking dirt up around him. The whistle stops the play. Trent stands over Adam, glowering down at him as he picks the ball up with a gloved hand. Teeth clenched behind his mask, Adam pushes himself off the ground.

Coach gives the whistle a sharp blow, starting the next play. Adam and Trent find themselves staring across from each other at the draw, crouched down with their sticks, waiting for the Assistant Coach to drop the ball.

At the whistle, Adam moves with shocking speed, grabbing the ball right out from under Trent. At the benches, Chase stands, slowly moving to the sidelines to watch. Adam charges the length of the field. Defense lashes out with their sticks, but he parries expertly.

Trent catches up and makes a furious stab at stealing the ball. Then with defense converging on him, Adam twists his lacrosse stick around, keeping the ball safely in the pocket while he literally flips forward, leaning right over the heads of the defensive players. Feet landing on the turf, he whirls around, tossing the ball in an over the shoulder shot past the goalie and right into the net.

The crowd in the bleachers roar with cheering, Jade on her feet along with everyone else except Chase.

"Davenport, get over here!" Coach shouts. He trots over to the Coach, all eyes on him. "What was that? This is a lacrosse field. Are you trying out for the gymnastics team?"

"No, Coach."

"Then what the hell was that?"

"I don't know." Adam answered. "I was just trying to make the shot.

"Well, you made the shot, and guess what? You just made lineup." Cheers erupt around him. As team members slap him on the back and knock his helmet with their gloves, a deliriously happy Adam doesn't even notice Trent's furious stare or Chase watching with a very worry look.

_**[Chase's Room]**_

Fingers click furiously over a keyboard. Eyes locked onto his computer screen, Chase bounces from one webpage to the next. Words and images pop up on the screen, flashing across his face: _Wolfsbane, Silver Bullets, Lycan, Aconite, _drawings of werewolves in different forms, one mostly human, another massive fur-covered creature and yet another appearing as a normal wolf. Image after image, page after page while the sun is setting on Mission Creek and a full moon begins to rise.

As his room darkens, an increasingly panicked Chase watches a sheet of paper come out of his printer - a detailed wood carving of a medieval hunter standing over the body of a werewolf, aiming a crossbow at the creature. He pulls the page out, staring at it with a look of escalating fear when someone knocks on the door. Chase practically leaps out of his chair. Rushing to the door, he unlocks it and opens to see Adam standing in t he doorway.

"Get in." He pushes Adam in. "You have to see this. I've been reading websites, books and all this information." He says, sitting across from Adam, who had took a seat on the foot of the bed. As Adam takes off his jacket, Chase starts grabbing printouts from his desk, pulling his computer screen around, and dozens of open webpages on it.

"How much Adderall have you had?" Adam asked, concerned for the seemingly hyper Chase.

"I've had a lot. That doesn't matter. Just listen to this."

"Is this about the body?" Adam asked. "Did they find who did it?"

"No, they're still questioning people, even Derek Hale, the guy from the woods."

"Yeah, but that's not it."

"What then?"

"Remember the joke the other day? It's not a joke anymore. The wolf, the bite in the woods; I started doing all this reading and...Do you even know why a wolf howls?"

"Should I?"

"It's a signal. When a wolf is alone, it howls to signal its location to the rest of the pack. So if you heard it howling, it means there are others, maybe a pack of them.

"Wait, a pack of wolves?"

"No, I mean a pack of werewolves."

"You're seriously wasting my time on this?" Adam asked. "You know, I'm picking Jade up in an hour."

"So, I made a good shot."

"No, you made an incredible shot. The way you moved, the speed, your reflexes, people can't suddenly do that overnight and then there's the hearing, the senses, and don't think I haven't noticed you don't need your inhaler anymore. You haven't used it since that night." Chase states.

"I can't think about this now. We'll talk tomorrow, okay?"

"Tomorrow, don't you get it? The full moon is tonight."

"What are you tring to do? I just made staring lineup. I have a date with a girl I can't belive actually wants to go out with me. Everything is somehow perfect in my life. Why are you trying to ruin it for me?"

"I'm trying to help. With the full moon, it's going to be too hard to resist and there's no going back. You're cursed, Adam, and it's not only that the moon causes you to change, it's also when your bloodlust will be at its peak."

"Bloodlust...?"

"It's your urge to kill."

"I'm already starting to have an urge to kill, Chase."

"You need to hear this. This change can be caused by your anger or anything that raises your pulse. And I've never seen anyone raise your pulse like Jade does. You have to cancel your date. You have to call her." Chase grabs Adam's jacket, pulling the cell phone out.

"What are you doing? Give me that!" Adam demands.

"I'm just finding her number."

"Give it to me." He demands, his voice low and guttural this time. Chase looks uup to see Adam's flash yellow for a brief second. Adam yanks the phone out of Chase's hand and shoves him against the wall. Pulling back before striking him, Adam instead lashes out at the desk chair, sending it flying across the room, tossed like it weight nothing. Then, shaking with anger, he gazes up. "I didn't mean to do that." Adam apologizes.

He starts to help Chase up, but Chase flinches back. "I'm sorry. Really, I didn't mean it. I have to go. I have to get ready for the party. I'm sorry." He apologizes again before grabbing his jacket and hurrying out.

Still shaken, Chase gradually stands. He slowly picks up the desk chair, putting it back. But then he pauses. With a shaky hand, he turns the chair around to reveal _claw marks_, the chair's fabric slashed to ribbons.


	3. Chapter 3

_**[Adam's Room]**_

Towel around his waist, Adam yanks his closet door open and starts tossing clothes onto his bed. "Do you have a big date?" His mom, Melissa Davenport, stands at the door.

Adam turns around, "Mom, can I have a little privacy, please?"

"Hold on, what do we have here?" She approaches, feeling his chin with her thumb. "I think it might be time for you to start shaving."

Outside the house, Adam and his mom can be heard talking. _"I don't even have a razor."_ Then further down the street, their voices take on the same effect as those that Adam could hear when he was listening in on conversations at school.

"_You better borrow one of mine. I'll go get it. Stay righ there."_ No less than a hundred yards away, but still within the line of sight of the house, someone stands beside a black Dodge Challenger, listening in on the conversation, Ryder Daniels.

_**[Party]**_

In the backyard of a dimly lit house, Adam and Jade stand awkwardly among a crowd of drunk and high teenagers. Adam peers down at the table with the booze.

"So, what do you drink?" Adam asks, breaking the awkward silence between them.

"Um...I don't know..."

"Me either, actually. Maybe we should try root beer? Wait here. I'll get the keg." Adam walks away after getting a simple "Perfect" from Jade.

Near a blazing fire, Adam fills two cups at the crowded keg when a sound of a dog barking catches his attention. A huge Rottweiler in the yard next door just beyond a chain linked fence, barking at Ryder. He stands behind the fire pit, staring straight at Adam. But then he shoots a look at Rottweiler. The dog stops barking instantly. Eyes locking on the animal, Ryder gives an almost imperceptible no. Tail between its legs, the Rottweiler submissively lowers to a sitting position.

Satisfied, Ryder turns back to Adam who grips the two overflowing cups in his hands and for the briefest second, Ryder's eyes flash yellow.

"Dude, are you done?" A party goer asks. Stunned, Adam hands off the keg tap to the party-goer. When he looks back to the fire-pit, Ryder is gone. Adam turns, glancing to the other teens in the yard, to the chain link fence, and then up to the roof where a shadowy figure seems to disappear just past the chimney. Adam steps back, trying to see if he actually did just witness Ryder leaping twenty feet off the ground. But there's nothing there. Handing a cup to Jade, he keeps throwing nervous glances back at the outside porch of the house. He takes a gulp of the beer and then coughs, nearly spitting it out.

"This punch tastes terrible." Adam comments. Jade laughs, covering her mouth with her hand. "Now I see what they mean about an acquired taste.

Jade replies, "I've actually never been drunk. I usually go to parties and just stand there with a diet coke.

"Chase and I got drunk on tequila one night. The next morning I felt like I had a flamethrower pointed at my forehead." Adam said.

"Okay, since neither of us are any good at drinking, how are you at dancing?" Jade asked.

"I'm much better...infinitely better..."

Under the driving pulse of techno, Adam takes her hand, pulling her into the crowd of dancing teenagers. Then as they begin moving, as Jade starts to smile back at him, the usually timid Adam begins to let go. His hands reach around her waist with the other teens pushing them closer. Bodies pressed against each other, her cheek brushes lightly at his.

Then through the crowd, Adam notices Cat dancing with Trent, grinding close to him, her fingers wrapped around the back of his neck. She presses her lips to Trent's locking him in a passionate kiss. As he eagerly kisses her back, sliding his hands down past her waist, Cat opens her eyes and looks right at Adam. She's staring at him as she kisses Trent. Unused to the attention of one beautiful girl, much less two, Adam finds himself dumbstruck until the bodies of the dancing teens push together to leave him alone with Jade again.

As Adam peers into Jade's eyes, for a second it almost looks as though they're about to kiss, then the thumping beat of the music begins driving faster, starting to sound almost like the quickening of a heartbeat...Adam's heartbeat. The sounds around him intensify, his fingers clench back, veins at the surface of his hands as he presses against the fabric of Jade's shirt. His upper lip pulls up momentarily to reveal a sharpened incisor.

Lights glaring in his eyes, Adam takes a hard swallow as his breathing tightens, sweat beading his temples. He loses the beat of the music, stepping back and pulling away. Adam excuses himself, "Sorry, I have to go...go to the bathroom."

"Are you okay?" She asks. But he hurries past her and into the hallway. Teeth clenched, a sudden wave f pain slams him against the wall, tremors shuddering through his body. Waiting in a line for the bathroom, Harley notices him against the wall, his arms wrappedaround his stomach.

"Adam, are you alright?" Harle asks, but he doesn't answer, pushing through the crowd, trying to find an exit out of the house. But one door leads to two teens making out on a bed. Another to a smoke filled room crowded with stoners. He can't seem to find a way out.

Gasps sounding more like animalistic growls, he crashes through the kitchen, shoving past people to the open door and out to the backyard.

Harley notices Chase near the fire-pit outside. "Hey, I just saw Adam leave. I think he had too much to drink." Harley informs him.

"What? What do you mean?" Chase asked, obviously alarmed.

Before she can answer, a panicked party goer charges in from the back door. "The cops are here!" Suddenly, everyone is moving, darting for an escape.

_**[Adam's Room]**_

Adam stumbles into his room, slamming the door shut. But even he's turning the lock, another wave of pain wracks his body. He falls back, hitting his dresser and catching his reflection in the mirror where two glowing eyes stare back at him.

Crouched on the floor, breathing hard with sweat streaming down his forehead, Adam squeezes his eyes shut, trying to push back the animal inside when someone pounds on the door.

"Go away!" Adam shouts.

"Adam, it's me." Chase calls out from the other side. Hearing the panic in his friends voice, he pulls himself up. He unlocks the door, but only allows it to open an inch.

"Let me in." Chase demands. "Adam, I can help."

"No!" Eyes still burning yellow, Adam stays hidden behind the door. "Listen, you have to find Jade. Take her home..." He stops speaking when Chase interrupts.

"She's fine. I saw her get a ride. She's totally fine."

"Chase, I think I know who it is."

Chase demands, "Just let me in and we can talk."

"It's Ryder. Ryder Daniels is the werewolf. He's the one who bit me. He's the one who killed the girl in the woods!" Ryder exclaimed.

Adam listens, but there's nothing but shocked silence from the other side of the door until, "Adam...Ryder's the one who drove Jade from the party."

Bedroom window thrown open, Adam launches himself out from the second story fifteen feet up. When his feet hit the pavement, his crouched figure slowly draws up to reveal he's no longer struggling against the transformation; _he's given into it._

He takes off for the woods, searching for Jade. He reaches the Mission Creek preserve and jumps on Ryder's car. He lies flat of the car's hood, looking in the car window for Jade. Neither she nor Ryder are anywhere in sight. He jumps off and goes further into the woods.

**[Chase]**

Chase pulls into the West's driveway and quickly gets out. He rushes to the door and rings the door bell. "Come, on, come on!" He mutters. He bangs on the door waiting for it to open. Soon, he is watching as Mrs. West opens the door. "Hi, Mrs. West, you have no idea who I am. I'm a friend of your daughter's. Uh, look, this is gonna sound crazy, um...really crazy actually. You know what? Crazy doesn't..." Chase mumbles on and on. Mrs. West keeps looking at him as if he was strange.

"Jade." She turns to the stairs. "It's for you!"

Jade comes out of her room and when she spots Chase, she slams her hands softly against the rail of the stairs. "Chase."

_**[Forest]**_

Adam is running past trees in werewolf form. He jumps hills and runs on all fours like a werewolf would do. He looks all around, but nobody or nothing is in sight until he sees a black blazer jacket hanging on a tree brance and gets a flashback from when he was picking Jade up; it was Jade's jacket.

"Where is she?!" Adam asks. Suddenly, a deep voice answers to him.

"She's safe...from you."

He looks in the direction his voice came from and Ryder is right in front of him. Grunting, Ryder gabs him. They roll down the hills, wrestling each other. Ryder slams Adam against a tree and grows.

"What did you do with her?" adam asked, concerned if Jade was safe or hurt, or still alive, or even dead.

"Shush, quiet." He warns as soon as he hears a twig crunch. "It's too late. They're already here. Run." He runs away from him. Adam starts running, but an arrow comes charging to him and nails his arm to the tree.

He screams, trying to get it out as he sees three hunters come out from the shadows. They are looking at him and the middle on is pointing a crossbow at him. Adam glares as the one hunter in the center takes a couple steps toward him. "Take him." He orders.

Ryder comes out of the shadows aiming for the hunters. Out of nowhere, Ryder pulls two of the hunters back against trees and they don't get up. The last hunter standing looks back. Ryder rushes to Adam and breaks him free from the tree as the hunter faces the other direction, holding out a gun. Adam screams in pain and follows Ryder.

They run to a random tree far away from the hunters and Adam leans on it, asking, "Who were they?"

"Those were hunters; the kind that has been hunting us for centuries."

Adam raises his voice when he responds, "Us...? You mean you! You did this to me!"

"Is it really so bad, Adam?" He asks. "That you can see better, hear more clearly, move faster than any human could ever hope? You've been given something that some people could kill for. The bite is a gift."

"I don't want it." Adam states.

"You will. And you're gonna need me if you want to learn how to control it. So you and I, Adam...we're brother's now." Ryder walks away, leaving Adam alone.

_**[Next Day - Road]**_

Adam is walking on the outline of the road near the forest when Chase pulls up beside him. Getting in, Chase hands him a clean shirt. "Do you know what actually worries me most?" Adam asked a few seconds later.

"If you say Jade, I'm gonna punch you in the head." Chase comments. Adam was stunned by his answer, but he thought he was teasing. In case he wasn't, he didn't say her name.

"She probably hates me now."

"Ugh." Chase groans. "I doubt that, but you might want to come up with a pretty amazing apology. Or, you know you could just tell her the truth and reveal in the awesomeness of the fact that you're a freaking werewolf." Chase suggested and Adam looked at him like he was crazy.

"Okay, that's a bad idea."

"Hey, we'll get through this. Come on, if I have to, I'll chain you up myself on full moon nights. I had a boa once. I could do it." Chase tried to convince him. Adam scoffed and Chase looked at him with a half-smile.

_**Mission Creek High**_

At the end of school, Adam sits outside in his Lacrosse gear when Jade walks passed him. She notices him jump up and follow hr. "So, what happened? You left me stranded at the party."

"Yeah, I know, I know. I'm really sorry, I am." Adam apologized. "But you're gonna have to trust that I had a really good reason." He continued. Jade stopped walking and turned to face him.

"Did you get sick?" She asked.

"I definitely had an attack of something."

She's unconvinced. "Am I gonna get an explanation?"

"Can you just find it in your heart to just trust me on this one?"

"Am I gonna regret this?" She asked.

"You probably are." He answers. Jade laughs. "So, is that a yes on a second chance?"

"Yes." Jade responded. A car horn goes off and Jade looks to see her dad. "That's my dad. I better go." Jade walked off. Adam turns around to walk away, but turns back around to discover that Jade's dad was the one who shot him in the arm with an arrow the couple nights ago.


	4. Chapter 4

Adam walked to his locker in the boys locker room, thinking. He leans against it with his back when Chase walks past him, catching a glance at him. It's clear Adam is still shocked about Jade's dad being a werewolf hunter. Chase looks back, leaning against the edge of the last locker.

"Did you apologize to Jade?" Chase asked, showing concern for Adam's love life.

"Yeah..."

"Is she giving you a second chance or...?"

"Yeah..."

"Yeah, so everything's good!" Chase exclaimed. Chase starts to walk off, but he comes back after hearing a faint 'no' from Adam. Chase's comforting smile turns into a slight frown. "No?"

"Remember the hunters?" Adam asked. "Her dad is one of them."

"Her dad...?'

"...shot me with..." Adam speaks slowly.

"Jade's father...?"

"...with a crossbow."

"Jade's father..."

"Yes, her father!" Adam yelled. He starts to have bad scenarios. Chase runs over and slaps him.

"No, Adam. Snap back! You okay? Hey, alright. He didn't recognize you, right?" Chase asked.

"No. No, I don't think so."

Chase asks, "Does she know about him?"

"I don't know. W-what if she does? This is gonna kill me man!" A whistle blows and Chase looks in that direction.

"Okay, just focus on lacrosse. Okay, here, Adam. Take this and focus on lacrosse from now, okay?" Chase hands him the lacrosse stick. "That's all you gotta do. Here. We. Go." Chase hits him repeatedly on the arm before leaving to go get himself ready.

_**[Lacrosse Practice]**_

"Let's go! One-on-one from up top! Trent, take a long stick today." The coach shouts. "Atta boy...!" Trent nods and grabs a long stick after putting the short stick down. Coach blows his whistle as Trent faces another player.

Trent knocks him down, stopping him from the ball into the net. "That's how you do it, Jack! That's how you do it! Greenberg, take a lap! Let's go. Faster, Greenberg, lets go."

When he got to Adam, he starts talking to him. "Davenport, what are they waiting for? Let's go."

Adam snaps out of his thoughts and realizes he was next. He starts running across the field, but Trent pushes him down. The coach comes over, laughing.

"Hey, Daveport...! You sure you still want to be first line, Davenport? My grandmother can move faster than that and she'sdead. Do you think you can move faster than the lifeless corpse of my dead grandmother?"

"Yes, Coach." Adam whispers, pulse rising under the mask.

"I can't hear you."

"Yes, Coach." Adam raises his voice a little louder.

"Then do it again." Standing up, Adam runs to the line and faces Trent once again. He starts running to the goal just as Trent gets right in front of him. As Adam gets faster, Trent blocks him.Adam pushes Trent down and he plumments on the ground, grasping his shoulder. The team runs to Trent to make sure he's okay. They don't pay attention Adam, whose crouching down on his knees a few feet away. Chase runs over to Adam.

"Adam, Adam, are you okay?" He asks.

"I can't control it, Chase. It's happening." Adam admitted, struggling to keep the wolf inside him in.

"What, here, now? Come on." Chase rushed Adam off the fieldand led to the locker room, unaware of Ryder there, standing by the bleachers.

Chase finally gets Adam into the locker room in time when he starts to transform. "Get away from me!" Adam suddenly shouts, causing Chase to stagger away quickly.

Being chased around the room, Chase tries to escape. He bumps into the fire extinguisher and quickly grabs it before spraying it in his face. He hides around the corner until he hears a faint "Chase" from Adam.

"What happened?" Adam asked as Chase came back into the room.

"You tried to kill me." He puts the fire extinguisher up and sits down next to Adam. "Like I told you before, it's the anger. It's your pulse rising. It's a trigger."

"But it's lacrosse; it's a pretty violent game if you haven't noticed." Adam points out.

"Well, its gonna be a lot more violent if you end up killing someone on the field. You can't play Saturday; you're gonna have to get out of the game."

"But, I'm first line."

"Not anymore."

_**[Adam's Room]**_

After lacrosse practice, Adam goes home and walks up to his room. He plops down on the bed all tired out. His mom comes into the room. "Hey." She says, getting his attention. "Late shift again for me, but I'm taking Saturday off to see your first game."

"No, mom you can't." He responds as she walks to his bed.

"Oh, I can and I will. Come on, one shift isnt gonna break us completely." Melissa then notices the dark circles under Adam's eyes. "What's wrong with your eyes?" Adam quickly sits up, panicked that his eyes were yellow. "It seems like you haven't been sleeping for days."

"Oh, uh it's nothing." Adam responds. "I'm just stressed.

"Just stress, nothing else?" Melissa asked.

"Homework..."

"I mean, it's not like you're taking drugs or anything, right?"

"Right now...?" Adam raises his eybrows.

"Right now...? I'm sorry, what do you mean 'right now'? Have you ever taken drugs?"

He asks, "Have you?" She just turns around then walks out after saying 'get some sleep'. He just sighs and lays his head down.His laptop starts to beep. It's Chase requesting video chat. He walks to his computer and answers it. Chase appears, pointing a nerf gun at Adam's screen.

"What did you find out?" Adam asks, sitting down at the desk.

"Well, it's bad." Chase answered. "Trent's got a separated shoulder."

"Because of me...?"

"No, because he's a tool..."

"Well, is he gonna play?"

Chase answers, "Well, they don't know yet. Now, they're just counting on you for Saturday."

Adam just closes his eyes and sighs as someone appears behind Adam. Chase sees this and types something. It looks like...it takes a while for the rest to come uo. Soemone's behind you.Adam turns around before being smushed against the wall by Ryder.

Ryder starts, "I saw you on the field."

"What are you talking about?" Adam asked.

"You shifted in front of them. If they find out what you are, they find out about me, about all of us. And if it's not just the hunters, it's everyone."

It gets harder for Adam to speak considering his face is smushedagainst the wall, "They didn't see anything, I swear!"

"And they won't! Because if you even try to play in that game on Saturday, I'm gonna kill you myself." Ryder threatens just before disappearing through the window.

_**[Coach's Office]**_

The next day at school, Adam is talking to Coach Finstock about tomorrow night's game. "What do you mean; you cant play the game tomorrow night?" Finstock asked.

"I mean I can't play the game tomorrow night."

"You can't wait to play the game tomorrow night." Coach adds unsaid words to it.

"No, Coach, I cant play the game tomorrow night."

"I'm not following."

"I'm having personal issues."

Finstock asks, "Is it a girl?"

"No."

"Is it a guy? You know, our goalie Danny is gay."

"Yeah, I know, Coach, but that's not it."

Finstock asks, "You don't think Danny's a good looking guy?"

"I think he's good looking, but I like girls." Adam gets frustrated. "And that's not it, anyway!"

"What, is it drugs? Are you doing meth? I had a brother that was addicted to meth. You should've seen what it did to his teeth. They were all cracked and rotten. It was disgusting."

"My god, what happened to him?" Adam asked, showing concern.

"He got veneers. Is that what this is about?" Finstock asked. "Are you afraid of getting hurt, Davenport?"

"No, I'm having some issues dealing with aggression."

"Well, here's the good news. That's why you play lacrosse; problem solved."

"Coach, I can't play the game tomorrow night." Adam pointed out.

"Listen, Davenport, part of playing first line is taking on responsibility of being first line. Now, if you can't shoulder that responsibility, then you're back on the bench until you're ready."

Adam asks, "If I don't play the game, you're taking me off first line?"

"Davenport, play the game."

_**[School Hallway]**_

Adam walks through the halls when his phone rings. He takes it out and sees a text from his om.

_Mom (Work)_

_Got the night off! Coming to see you play! So excited!_

Adam looks up to see Jade coming down the stairs. "Hey." She greeted him as she walked over. "Busy?" She asked, glancing at his phone.

"No. No, it's just, uh...my mom. She's nothing." Jade's eyes widen until Adem catches himself. "I mean, it's nothing. Uh, I'm never busy for you."

"I like the sound of that." She smiles and they laugh. "Well, I have to run to French class, but I wanted you to know that I'm coming to see you play tomorrow?"

"You are?"

"Yeah, and we're all going out afterwards. It's going to be you, me, Cat, and Trent. It's gonna be great. Tell Chase to come too."Jaade starts to walk away and shouts over her shoulder, "Save me a seat at lunch. I gotta go."

"Oh, god..." He mutters, walking away.

_**[Jade's Locker]**_

Jade quickly heads to her locker and starts putting in her lockercombination as the halls clear. She gets suspicious when she sees her jacket from the other night at the party, the one she never went back and got.

There's an eerie squeaking noise as she grabs it. Someone was watching her. She looks both sides of her to see nothing. Starlingher, the bell suddenly rings. She chuckles just before grabbing her French book.

**_[Math Class]_**

Cat and Adam stand at the chalk board, facing it with chalks in hand, solving a math equation. Cat asks, whispering, "Why is there a rumor going around that you're not playing tomorrow?"

"It's because I'm sort of not."

"I think you sort of are, especially when you brutally injure my boyfriend while ramming into him." Cat shot back.

"He brutally injured himself by ramming into me."

Cat just smirked then looked at him with a glare. "Trent's gonna play tomorrow, but he's not gonna be at his peak, and I prefer my boyfriend at crowning performance."

"Okay." Adam said, slightly annoyed.

"I date the captain of the winning lacrosse team, and if they start off the season losing, I date the captain of the losing lacrosse team." Cat pointed out. "I don't date losers."

"Losing one game isn't gonna kill anyone." Adam points out before quietly muttering, "In fact, it might even save someone."

"Fine, don't play. We'll probably win anyway. Then we'll go out after, like we were planning, and I'll introduce Jade to all the hot players on the team and Adam Davenport can stay home, surfing the net for porn." Cat puts her chalk down, finished with the problem, and walks back to her desk while clapping the chalk of her hands.

The teacher speaks, "Mr. Davenport, you're not even close to solving your problem."

"Tell me about it."

_**[Adam's Locker]**_

Adam is at his locker, locking it, when Chase runs over. "Hey, come here."

"What?" HE asks while Chase drags him over to the end of the hallway where the principal's office is. Standing out of the office, the principal, Deputy Unger, and another cop are having a conversation.

Chase points to them, "Tell me what they're saying."

"Can you hear them?" Chase asks.

"Shush."

Deputy Unger: I want everyone under the age of 18 to be in their home by 9:30p.m. We'd like to institute the curfew, effective immediately.

Adam turned to Chase, "Everyone under the age of 18 has curfew because of the body."

"Unbelievable. My dad's out looking for a rabid animal, while the jerk-off who actually killed the girl is just hanging out, doing whatever he wants."

"Well, you can't exactly tell your dad the truth about Ryder."

"I can do something." Chase tells him as Adam leans against the wall.

"Like what?"

"Find the other half of the body." Chase says then walks away.

"Are you kidding?"

When Adam turns, he sees Jade, Cat, and some guys on the lacrosse team.

"This is Jade." Cat introduces Jade to one of the guys.

"Hi." Jade greets him. "It's nice to meet you." She continues as she shakes hands with him.

"She's the new girl. She just moved here." Adam walks towards them, listening in on the conversation. He walks with a glare directed toward the guy and Cat.

"Do you like it?"

"I like it."

Cat glares back at him and walks away, tagging the guy along.

She turns to face Adam with a smile. "So, Cat's introducing you to everyone?"

"She's being so unbelievably nice to me." Jade points out.

"I wonder why." But Adam knows the reason why.

"Maybe she gets how much being the new girl can suck." Jade notices her jacket. He gets a flashback of seeing it hung by a tree branch.

"Where did you get that?"

"My jacket? It was in my locker. I think Cat brought it back from the party. She has my combination..."

"Did she say she brought it back, or did somebody give her the jacket?" Ryder cut her off.

"Like who?"

"Like Ryder."

"Ryder, your friend?"

"He's not my friend. How much did you talk to him when he drove you home?"

"Mmm, not much at all."

"What did you say?"

"I gotta get to class." Jade says.

"Jade..." Adam called out.

"No, I really have to go."

[Ryder's House]

Adam quickly rides his bike to Ryder's house. When he reaches it, he gets off and starts yelling. "Ryder! Ryder!" He shouts as he takes his backpack off aggressively. Adam smelled someone and looked at the back of the house to see fresh dirt. He looked back at the front of the house to already see Ryder standing there.

"Stay away from her!" He shouted. He couldn't deal with losing her. "She doesn't know anything!"

"Yeah? What if she does? You think your little buddy Chase can just Google werewolves, and now you got all the answers, is that it? You don't get it yet, Adam, but I'm looking out for you. Think about what could happen. You're out on the field, the aggression takes over, and you shift in front of everyone." Ryder grabs Adam's lacrosse stick. "You're mom, all your friends. And when they see you," He pokes the top of the lacrosse stick on Adam's chest and he slaps it away. "Everything falls apart." Ryder rips the net with his claws.

He suddenly disappears when he throws the lacrosse stick in mid-air and Adam catches it.


	5. Chapter 5

Chase rushes through the Davenport house and up to Adam's room. Opening the door, he starts to ask a bunch of questions, "What did you find? How did you find it? Where did you find it?" Chase adds, "And, yes, I've had a lot of Adderall."

"I found something of Ryder Daniels'." Adam informs.

"Are you kidding, what?"

"There's something buried there." He replies. "I could smell blood."

"That's awesome! I mean, that's terrible. Who's blood?"

Adam gets up. "I don't know. But when we do, your dad nails Ryder for the murder, and then you help me figure out how to play lacrosse without changing, because there's no way I'm not playing that game." He tosses the fixed stick to the bed and they walk out.

_**[Mission Creek Hospital]**_

Chase and Adam walk into the hospital. Chase suddenly nudges him, pointing to the door that reads "Morgue". "Okay." Adam says, heading over.

"Good luck, I guess, yeah." Chase says, walking away as Adam sneaks into the room beside them. Chase goes into the waiting room to see Cat sitting on a chair. Chase gets nervous and leans onto the check-in-desk. He walks to Cat with a cheerful attitude.

"Hey, Cat. You probably don't remember me. Um...I sit behind you in biology." He waves at her and she looks at the ceiling. "Uh, anyway, I always thought that we just had this kind of connection. It was unspoken, of course. Maybe it'd be kind of cool to get to know each other a little better." Chase realizes Cat has been on the phone the whole time when she takes off her Bluetooth phone.

"Hold on, give me a second." She warns and takes the Bluetooth off before turning to Chase. "Yeah, I didn't get any of what you just said. Is it worth repeating?"

Chase chuckles nervously. "No. Sorry. I'm gonna sit. You don't care." He sits in a chair around the corner and grabs a comic book.

_**[Morgue]**_

Adam walks down the hall, looking at the label on each door. He gets to the Morgue and quietly goes in. He walks past a table then goes to a shelf where they have body sized containers to put the deceased in. He opens a door that was ner and pulls the body out.

He lifts up the sheet where the feet are shown and there's a tag on the big toe. He glances at the tag and reads the information on there. He puts the body back in and shuts the cabinet.

_**[Hospital - Hallway]**_

Trent walks down the hall and Cat immediately gets up to walk to him. "Did he do it?" Cat asks, concerned for her boyfriend's injury.

Trent informs, "He said not to make a habit of it, but one cortisone shot won't kill me."

"You should get one right before game, too. The pros do it all the time. Do you want to be a little high school amateur." She crosses her arms over her chest before grabbing Trent and pulling him toward her. "Or do you want to go pro?" She gives him a soft kiss.

They walk away and Chase, who was watching them, made a face. Adam comes up and snatches the book away from Chase, startling him. "Oh my god!"

"The scent was the same."

"Are you sure?" Chase asks, getting up.

"Yeah..."

Chase sighs, "So, he did bury the other half of the body on his property."

"Which means; we have proof he killed the girl and then buried half of her body." Adam responds.

"I say use it."

"How...?"

"Tell me something first." Chase said. "Are you doing this because you want to stop Ryder or because you want to play in the game and he said you couldn't."

"There are bite marks on the legs, Chase; bite marks."

"Okay, then we're gonna need a shovel." Chase said, patting Adam on the back as they walk out.

**[Ryder's House - Night]**

Ryer walks outside and heads to his car. Right when he drives away, Chase and Adam drive up. They hop out of the car and walk to the spot where the body was buried. As he watches Chase shine the flashlight, Adam states, "Wait. Something's different."

"Different how...?"

"I don't know. Let's just get this over with." They reach the spot and start digging. It takes almost an hour for them to dig six feet under. Wiping sweat and dirt off of his nose, Adam says, "This is taking way too long."

"Just keep going."

Adam asks, "What if he comes back?"

"Then we get the hell out of here."

"What if he catches us?"

"I have a plan for that."

"Which is...?"

"You run one one way, I run the other and whoever he catches first, rest in peace."

Adam scoffs. "I hate that plan."

When Chase puts his shovel back in the ground, he hits something. "Oh, stop, stop." They bend down and start wiping the dirt away. Chase starts to untie something.

"Hurry up."

"I'm trying." Chase says. "Did he have to tie the thing in 900 knots?"

"I'll do it." When they're done, they uncover everything and jump back with a scream when they see a black wolf with it's tongue sticking out.

"What the hell is that?" Chase asks in disgust.

"It's a wolf." Adam points out.

"Yeah, I can see that. I thought you said you smelled blood, as in human blood."

"I told you something was different.

"This doesn't make since."

"We gotta get out of here."

"Yeah, okay, help me cover this up."

Chase looks up for a second and spots a purple flower poking out of the ground. "What's wrong?" Adam asked, following Chase's eyes to see what he's looking at.

"You see that flower?" Chase asks.

"What about it?"

"I think it is wolfsbane."

"What's that?" Adam asks, confused.

"Haven't you ever seen _The Wolf Man_?"

"No."

"Lon Chaney Jr.? Claude rains the original classic werewolf movie?"

"No!" Adam shouts. "What?"

"You are so unprepared for this." Chase sighs and gets up, walking to the plant. He starts pulling it out of the ground. It's attached to a rope and he walks in a circle to get it out. The area starts to glow red. Adam looks back at the werewolf and jumps up. "Chase." He calls.

Chase stops what he was doing and goes to Adam. He looks down and sees that the wolf was now human. "Holy!" He exclaims, falling down a little.

_**[Ryder's House - Afternoon]**_

Adam and Chase are at Ryder's house, a cop car in front of them. A cop comes out with Ryder, handcuffs latched onto his hands behind him. Adam watches as he leans against Chase's jeep. He looks in the distance to see Chase walking over. Chase didn't see Adam shaking his head 'no', trying to stop him.

As Chase gets in the car and starts talking to Ryder, all Ryder does is glare at him. "Okay, just so you know, I'm not afraid of you." Ryder growls, making Chase sink down a little. "Okay, maybe I am, but it doesn't matter. I just want to know something. The girl you killed, she was a werewolf. She was a different kind was she? I mean, she could turn herself into an actual wolf. I know Adam can't do that? Is that why you killed her?"

"Why are you so worried about me when it's your friend who's the problem?" Ryder asks. "When he shifts on the field, what do you think they're gonna do, huh, just keep cheering him on? I can't stop him from playing, but you can." Ryder leans forward. "And trust me, you want to." The door opens and Sheriff Unger suddenly pulls Chase out.

"Hey, ow!" Chase exclaims.

"There. Stand." Sheriff orders. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I'm just trying to help."

"Uh-uh. Okay, well, how about you help me understand exactly how you came across this.

Chase sighs. "We were looking for Adam's inhaler."

"When did he drop his inhaler?" Sheriff questioned.

"He dropped it the other night." Chase confessed then groaned, realizing what he just did.

"The other night when you were out here looking for the first half of thebody?"

"Yes."

"The night you told me you were alone and Adam was at home."

"Yes. No. Oh, crap."

"So, you lied to me."

"That depends on how you define lying." Chase responded.

"Well, I define it as not telling the truth. How do you define it?"

"Well, I define it as reclining your body in a horizontal position." Chase demonstrates with his arm.

Sherrif responds, "Get the hell out of here."

"Absoulutely..." Chase walks to his jeep.

_**[Chase's Car]**_

"I can't find anything about wolfsbane being used for burial." Adam informs Chase as he drives down the road.

"Just keep looking." Chase orders, sighing. "Maybe it's like a ritual or something, like maybe they bury you as a wolf or maybe it's like a special skill, you know? Like something you have to learn."

"I'll put it on my to-do list, right underneath figuring out how the hell I'm playing this game tonight."

"Maybe it's different for she-wolves."

"Okay!" Adam shouted. "Stop it!"

"Stop what?"

"Stop saying werewolves! Stop enjoing this so much."

Chase asks, "Are you okay?"

"No! No, I'm not. I'm so far from being okay."

"You know, you're gonna have to accept this, Adam; sooner or later." Chase states.

"I can't..."

"Well, you're gonna have to."

"No, I can't breathe!" Adam starts grunting and hits the roof with his hand. Chase soon realizes what's happening.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..."

"Pull over." Adam orders.

"Why, what's happening?" Chase asked.

Adam opens up Chase's backpack and sees the rope of wolfsbane. "You kept it?"

"What was I supposed to do with hit?" Chase asked.

"Stop the car." Adam's eyes then turned yellow and his canines grew.

Chase suddenly pulls over and stops the car. He grabs his backpack and jumps out. Throwing it back into the woods, he turns to the car to see Adam's car door swinging open, but no Adam. "Adam?" He wonders nervously.

Soon, he's driving down the road again, calling dispatch. The line picks up and a woman starts to speak, _"Chase, you know you can't call the dispatch when I'm on duty."_

"I just need to know if you've gotten any odd calls."

"_Odd how...?"_

"Uh, like an odd person or a dog-like individual roaming the streets."

"_I'm hanging up on you now."_

"No, wait, wait!"

"_Goodbye." _The line drops and Chase slams his phone on the seat.

_**[Jade's Window - Night]**_

Adam is on the roof, in werewolf form. She gets up and walks to the windows, not noticing him. She shuts her curtains and Adam suddenly sees his reflection. Startled, he tries to get off, falling of the roof and colliding on the hood of Mr. West's car. Before Mr. West can even see his werewolf form, he shifts back.

"Dad...?" Jade's voice could be heard from the doorway. Mr. West is kneeling beside Adam, making sure, he's okay. "Dad, what the hell are you doing?" Jade shouts as she runs to the two.

"He came out of nowhere, Jade." Mr. West says.

Jade asks, "Are you trying to kill him?"

"No, of course not, he just ran out of the driveway."

"I'm sorry." Adam apologizes, grunting in pain. "It's my fault. I'm sorry."

"Are you okay?" Jade asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I swear." Jade starts to stroke his hair. "Sorry I hit your car. I was just coming to say hi." Adam says, Jade chuckles.

"You sure you're okay?" Mr. West asks as he and Jade help Adam up.

He grunts, "Yeah, yeah, completely. I should go. I've got a lacrosse game to get to." He turns to Jade. "You're still coming, right?"

"Of course I'm coming." Jade smiles at him.

"We both are." Mr. West adds.

_**[Locker Room]**_

Adam has finished getting ready and puts his clothes in a bag. A male voice that can only be heard by him says his last name, "Davenport." Everyone's slamming lockers which make it difficult for Adam to hear just one thing. "Davenport." The voice says again. He closes his eyes tight then opens them. He sits back down and starts putting his knee pads on.

Chase comes by and looks at him. He starts making his way towards Adam. "Are you gonna try to convince me not to play?" Adam asks.

"I just hope you know what you're doing."

"If I don't play, I lose first time and Jade."

"Jade's not going anywhere." Chase shouts, getting annoyed. "And it's one game that you really don't need to play."

"I wanna play!" Adam shouts and looks at him. "I want to be on the team and I want to go out with Jade. I want a semi-freaking normal life. Do you get that?" He asks.

"I get it." Chase sits down and sighs. "Just try not to worry too much while you're out there, okay? Or get too angry."

"I got it."

"Or stressed..."

"I got it."

"Don't think about Jade or being in the stands, or that her father's trying to kill you, or that Ryder's trying to kill you, or the girl he killed. Or that you might kill if a hunter doesn't kill you first." Adam was getting annoyed and turned around with a glare, warning him to stop. "I'm sorry. I'll stop. Good luck."

_**[The Game]**_

The crowd cheers and the game is about to start. Everyone takes their seats and the players get prepared to win. Adam and Chase walk to the bleachers with the items for the game. Adam sees Jade, Mr. West, and his mom. "Adam!" Cat yells, walking up to him and grabbing his shirt. Chase gasps and walks away. "I just want you to remember one thing for tonight."

"Uh, winning isn't everything?"

Cat chuckles, wiping invisible dust off his shoulder. "Nobody likes a loser." She says and walks away.

Coach sits next to Trent and asks, "How's your shoulder?"

"It's fine." Trent responds.

"Do you feel any pain?"

"No."

"What if I gave it a big old punch?" Coach rises up his fist. "Would you feel any pain then?"

Trent knits his eyebrows, "Maybe."

"Listen, just go out there. Just give it your best. If you feel any pain, just..."

"Just keep playing...?"

"That's my boy."

The whistle blows and the players run to the field. Adam runs to the goal; Chase is nervously biting his nails. Chase prayers silently, "Please let this be okay. Please."

_**[Bench]**_

Mr. Unger comes up to Chase and pats his back. "Hey kid."

"Hey." He greets him back.

"So, you think you'll see any action tonight?"

"Oh, there might be action all right."

_**[Field]**_

The coach puts the ball between two players and the whistle blows, they fight for it. When a player on Adam's team gets it, they start running for the goal. Minutes later, Adam sees the ball on the ground. He runs over and Trent sees this. Trent runs after him and pushes Adam to the ground, grabbing the ball with the net.

Trent scores, "That's it, Trent! Get fired up, fired up!"

Adam looks back at the bleachers where Jade and Cat are cheering. Jade and Cat are holding up a sign that says, "We Love You Trent!" Adam is heartbroken by this.

"Brutal." Chase mutters, noticing the sign. "Oh, this is not gonna be good." He mumbles, seeing Adam running after Trent.

"_Don't pass to Davenport," _was the last thing Adam heard between Danny and Trent. Adam's eyes turn yellow. Adam grows softly and the coach starts to wonder something.

_**[Bleachers]**_

Jade and Cat are suspicious and worried. Mr. West leans over, asking, "Which one is Adam again?"

"He's number 11." Cat says. She adds, "He's also known as the only one who hasn't caught a single ball the entire game."

"I hope he's okay."

"I hope we're okay." Cat says. "We need to win this." Cat stands up, picking up the sign and nudges Jade to help her. "Jade, a little help here?"

_**[Field]**_

Adam grows even more jealous at the other sign. The ball is thrown in mid-air and Adam jumps up, catching it before starting to run. He dodges the players of the other team nad runs to the goal. He shoots, he scores! Adam has won the round and everyone but Cat and Trent cheer. Coach Finstock yells, "Davenport! Pass to Davenport!"

Adam has shifted, now growling. His eyes are glowing yellow, canines out. Luckily, his helmet is on. He growls at a player on the opposing team and the player backs away in fear, passing it to Adam.

Coach walks over to Chase, who is biting his glove in fear and anticipation. "Did the opposing team just deliberately pass us the ball?"

"Yes, I believe so, Coach." Chase answers.

Adam dodges another player, then another player, until he reaches the goal. The goalie catches the ball, but it goes through the net and into the goal. Adam looks at everyone else and realizes that he's shifting.

Cheers to him roar through the field. The whistle blows again and they get ready for the final round. "What the hell's up with your teammate?" A player on the opposing team asked as they got ready to start again.

"I don't know...yet." Trent responds. The coach blows the whistle and one of the opposing team players pass the ball to Adam. Adam once again does the same routine again, vision now red.

Chase stands up slowly, knowing that Adam is shifting. He mutters, "No, Adam, no."

"_You can do it, Adam."_ Adam hears Jade mutter and her voice makes him calm down a bit. In the last 5 seconds of the game, Adam throws the ball into the net. They have won. Adam takes off his glove and sees his claws. He dashes for the locker room, Jade following.

_**[Locker Room]**_

Adam pants as he walks to the sinks. Taking off his helmet, he throws it across the floor. Jade comes in and sees his helmet. She starts to worry and become suspicious. Taking off her beanie, she starts calling out for Adam.

"Adam?" There's no answer. She hears glass shatter when Adam punches the mirror. "Adam? Adam, are you here?"

Adam watches Jade from above on the ceiling bar. She's suspiciously staring at the broken glass. Jade leans against the wall in fear and calls out for Adam once again. She goes to the showers to see Adam. He is fine after making it through his transformation.

"Adam, are you okay?" She walks up to him and touches his shoulder, making him suddenly turn around. "You scared me. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, sorry, I just got kind of lightheaded for a sec."

"Maybe it's the adrenaline." Jade suggested. "You were pretty amazing out there."

"I'm sorry for acting totally weird today."

"It's okay. I can handle weird."

"To be totally honest, you, uh, make me kind of nervous."

"I do?"

"Yeah, kind of like really nervous." He says, Jade laughs. "I just...I wanted to make sure I get my second chance."

"You already have it; I'm just waiting for you to take it." She starts to walk away, but turns back when Adam starts to respond.

"Well, maybe I need to learn to take more chances."

"Maybe you do." Adam leans in and their lips touch. They share a sweet, soft kiss. Chase runs in and then takes some steps back to give them a little privacy. Peering in, he still watches.

Jade and Adam pull away and Jade giggles, "I got to get back to my dad." She walks away and sees Chase.

"Chase." She says, walking out the door. He waves a little, barely lifting a hand. He walks away from his hiding place and towards Adam, who has a goofy grin on his face.

"I kissed her." Adam says.

"I saw."

"She kissed me."

"I saw that too. That's pretty good, huh?"

Adam stammers, "I don't know how, but I controlled it. I pulled it back. Maybe I can do this. Maybe I can do this. Maybe it's not that bad."

"Yeah," Chase chuckles. "We'll talk later then." Chase is about to walk away, but Adam stops him.

Adam questions, "What?"

"The, uh, medical examiner looked at the other half of the body we found."

"And..."

"Well, I'll keep it simple; the medical examiner determines killer of girl to be animal, not human. Ryder's human, not animal. Ryder, not killer; he was let out of jail."

"Are you kidding?"

"No. And here's a bigger kick in the butt. My dad ID'd the dead girl, both halves. Her name was Laura Daniels."

"Daniels?"

"Ryder's sister."

_**[Lacrosse Field]**_

Adam's glove is still on the field. Trent sees it and goes to pick it up. The tips of it are torn and Trent feels someone's presence behind him. He looks to see a figure staring at him; Ryder Daniels.


	6. Pack Mentality

**A/N: Is anyone even reading this story? I would like some reviews. Btw, I made a mistake in the story. Ryder's eyes are actually blue, but brown. **

Chapter 6 - Pack Mentality

_Ryder and Jade come out of the school, holding hands and running to a bus. As he guides her, he says, "Come on." _

"_Where are you taking me?" Jade asks. _

"_I'm taking you somewhere where we can be alone." _

"_We are alone." She states. They stops and Ryder leans against the bus doors. _

"_Somewhere we can be more alone..." Ryder opens the door and they go in. Ryder sits in a seat and Jade stands over him. Jade sits across from him. Ryder grabs the ends of the top seat, standing up. He walks over to Jade and bends down. He leans in and kisses her with passion. This censors a trigger and his claws retract and scratch the seat. He pulls away and Jade knits her eyebrows._

"_What's wrong?" She asks. He starts growling and walks away to the other side of the bus. _

"_Get away." He warns her, but she doesn't move. _

"_Ryder?" She stands up and Ryder's eyes start glowing yellow, hair grows alongside of his jaws and his canines grow. "Ryder?" _

"_Get away from me!" He stops crouching and looks at her. She starts staggering away in fear. She turns around and starts running to the door. But Ryder, being faster than her, grabs her leg. She falls to the ground, hitting her face. He drags her across the floor and Jade keeps on turning and turning. She tries to grab the legs of the seats so Ryder wouldn't be able to drag her anymore. _

_Jade is able to kick Ryder in the chest and crawl back to the door. She falls and starts to lean on the door so someone could see her. But no one could see her. Ryder starts walking to Jade. When she is almost able to get the door open, Ryder covers her mouth and smashes her head against the window._

**[School - Morning]**

Ryder is telling Robbie what happened. As they walk down the hall, Robbie asks, "So you killed her?"

"I don't know. I just woke up, and I was sweating like crazy and I couldn't breathe. I've never had a dream where I woke up like that." He said.

"Really...?" Robbie asks. "I have. It usually ends a little a little differently.

"A) I meant that I've never had a dream that felt that real, and B) never give me that much detail about you in bed again." Ryder told him, knowing what he meant.

"Noted..." Robbie sighed. "Let me take a guess here."

"No, I know, you think it has something to do with me going out with Jade tomorrow. Like I'm gonna lose control and rip her throat out."

"No, of course not." Ryder is not sure that Robbie is telling the truth. "Yeah, that's totally it." Robbie admitted. "Hey, come on, it's gonna be fine, alright? Personally, I think you're handling this pretty freaking amazingly. You know, it's not like there's a Lycanthropy for beginner's class you can take."

"Yeah, not a class; but maybe a teacher..." Ryder says.

"Who?" Robbie asked. "Derek?" Robbie slaps Ryder on the back of his head. "Are you forgetting the part where we got him tossed in jail?"

"Yeah, I know, but chasing her and dragging her to the back of the bus, it felt so real."

"How real...?"

"It felt like it actually happened." As soon as they walk outside, their eyes drop. In front of them is a bus stained with blood and a door hanging out.

"I think it did." Robbie says, making Ryder even more worried.

They have gone inside away from the scene and Robbie tries to reassure Ryder that Jade is fine. "She's probably fine." He catches up to Ryder.

"She's not answering my texts, Robbie." Ryder says, looking around frantically.

"It could just be a coincidence, alright?"

"Yeah, a seriously amazing coincidence" Ryder turns to Robbie. "Just help me find her, okay?" Seconds later, Ryder asks, "Do you see her?"

"No." Ryder turns a corner and slams himself against a locker. Out of frustration, he punches the locker, breaking it and it swings open. He walks backwards to the corner and bumps into someone. He turns to see Jade suddenly drop her books. She laughs and looks at him.

"You scared the hell out of me." She said, being down to pick them up. Ryder is happy to see that she is alive and healthy.

"You're okay." He says.

"I will be once my heart starts beating again." Jade says as Ryder bends down to help her. She notices him staring at her.

"What?"

"I'm just happy to see you."

The principal comes on the intercom, _"Attention, students, this is your principal. I know you're all wondering about the incident that occurred last night to one of our buses. While the police work to determine what happened, classes will proceed as scheduled." _Everyone groans.

Jade puts her head on Ryder's and plays with his hair. "Save me a seat at lunch?" She asked, looking into his sea-blue eyes.

"Yeah..." He responds. She walks away and Ryder looks to see Andre dumbfounded about his locker.

"What are you looking at, asswipe?" Ryder just walks away, a laugh trying to escape.

_**[Chemistry Class]**_

Ryder is talking to Robbie, who is sitting right behind him. Ryder suggested, "Maybe it was my blood on the door."

"It could have been animal blood." Robbie responded quietly. "You know, maybe you caught a rabbit or something."

"And did what?"

"You ate it." Robbie said.

"Raw?"

Robbie answers sarcastically, "No, you stopped to bake it in a little werewolf oven; yes, raw. I don't know. You're the one who can't remember anything."

The teacher, Mr. Harris, stands at the board and starts to speak, "Mr. Shapiro, if that's your idea of a hushed whisper, you might want to pull the headphones out every once in a while. I think you and Mr. Daniels would benefit from a little distance, yes?"

Robbie scoffs, "No."

Mr. Harris points to a different seat and has them move further apart. "Let me know if the separation anxiety gets to be too much." Robbie scoffs and sits down while Ryder goes to the front.

"Hey, I think I found something." A girl shouted, pointing to the window. In interest, everyone ran to the window to see an old man being wheeled out of the bus by some doctors.

"That's not a rabbit." Ryder whispers to Robbie. Suddenly the man jumps up and starts screaming, making the class jump a little as doctors hold him down. Ryder starts to back away, Robbie following.

"Okay," He begins. "This is good, this is good. He got up; he's not dead. Dead guys can't do that." Robbie pointed out.

"Robbie," Ryder whispers. "I did that."

_**[Lunch]**_

Ryder and Robbie are still trying to wrap their heads around things. As they walk to the table, Robbie says, "But dreams aren't memories." He puts his tray down and sits down across from Ryder.

"Then it wasn't a dream." Ryder says. "Something happened last night and I can't remember what."

"What makes you so sure that Derek even has all the answers?" Robbie asked.

"Because during the full moon, he wasn't in werewolf form, he was in total control while I was running around in the middle of the night attacking some totally innocent guy."

"You don't know that." Robbie responded, grabbing his orange.

"I can't go out with Jade. I have to cancel."

"No, you're not cancelling, okay? You can't just cancel your entire life. We'll figure it out." Just as he finishes, Cat puts her tray down and sits next to Ryder once she pulls her chair out.

"Figure what out?" Cat asked.

"Uh...figure out tonight's homework." Robbie lied. He leans over to Ryder and whispers, "Why is she sitting with us?" Ryder shrugs.

Suddenly, they are suddenly joined by Jade, Danny, and a guy named Brian. Andre comes up with his tray and looks at Brian. He orders Brian, "Get up."

"Why don't you ask Danny to get up?" Brian asked.

"That's because I don't stare at his girlfriend's coin slot." Danny answered. Brian gets up and leaves as Andre sits down. The topic is soon on the incident and the man found.

"So, I hear they're saying it's some type of animal attack."

"It was probably a cougar."

"I heard mountain lion." Andre responds, sitting back and bringing his leg up.

Cat says, "A cougar is a mountain lion. Isn't it?"

"Who care?" Andre asked. "The guy's probably some homeless tweaker who's gonna die anyway."

"Actually, I just found out who it is." Robbie says, looking down at his phone. "Check it out." He puts his phone in the middle of the table so everyone could see the video.

"_The Sheriff's Department won't speculate on details of the incident, but confirmed the victim, Garrison Myers, did survive the attack. Meyers was taken to a local hospital where he remains in critical condition." _

"I know this guy." Ryder stammers, grabbing Robbie's phone.

"You do...?" Jade asked.

"Yeah, when I used to take the bus back when I lived with my dad, he was the driver."

"Can we talk about something slightly more fun, please?" Cat asked. "Like, oh, where are we going tomorrow night?"

Jade looked at her, knowing the question were directed toward her. "You said you and Ryder were hanging out tomorrow night, right?"

"Um, we were thinking of what we were gonna do." Jade responded, looking at Ryder.

"Well, I am not sitting home again watching Lacrosse videos, so if the four of us are hanging out, we are doing something fun."

"Hanging out, like the four of us?" Ryder looked at Jade. "Do you wanna hang out, like us and them?"

"Yeah, sure, sounds fun."

"You know what else sounds fun?" Andre asks, grabbing a fork. "Stabbing myself in the face with this fork..." Cat quickly grabs it and puts it in the middle of her and Ryder. Robbie rolled his eyes, taking a swig of his water bottle.

"How about bowling?" Cat asked, looking at Andre. "You love to bowl."

"Yeah, but with actual competition."

Jade looked at him with a laugh, "How do you know we're not actual competition?" Jade then looked at Ryder and asked him a question. "You can bowl, right?"

"Well, sort of." Robbie's eyes widen, knowing his friend was truly terrible at bowling.

"Is it sort of or yes?" Andre asked, leaning forward.

"Yes." Ryder responded. "In fact, I'm a great bowler."

_**[Hallway after School]**_

"You're a terrible bowler!" Robbie exclaims, walking down the hall with Ryder tagging along.

"I know! I'm such an idiot."

"God, it was like watching a car wreck. I mean, first it turned into the whole group date thing. Then out of nowhere comes that phrase."

"Hang out." Ryder repeats.

"You don't hang out with hot girls, okay? It's like death. Once it's hanging out, you might as well be her gay best friend. You and Danny can start hanging out."

"How is this happening?" Ryder asked. "I either killed a guy or I didn't."

"I don't think Danny likes me very much."

"I asked Jade on a date and now we're hanging out."

Robbie asked, "Am I not attractive to gay guys?"

"I make first line and the team captain wants to destroy me. Now..." Ryder glances at his watch. "Now, I'm gonna be late for work." He starts to walk away faster, leaving Robbie behind.

"Wait, Ryder, you didn't...Am I attractive to gay guy..." Robbie cuts himself, knowing Ryder wasn't gonna answer. "You didn't answer my question." Robbie then starts walking the other way.

_**[Animal Clinic]**_

Ryder rides his bike to the Animal Clinic and parks it besides the building. He runs in and apologizes to his boss, Dr. Deaton, "Sorry."

"You're all of two minutes late."

"I just don't want you to think I'm slacking."

"Ryder, I guarantee you; you're one of the least slacking kids in this town." Dr. Deaton says, picking up a box. Ryder looks at the door and sees the Sheriff standing outside, about to come in.

He believes that they have found some connection to him and the attack; however, he is just here to get the police dog's stitches removed. "Hey, I see somebody's ready to get their stitches out." Dr. Deaton bends down to pet the dog before picking up to put it on the operating table. Ryder sees an evidence envelope in Sheriff's hand.

"Hey, there, Ryder, are you staying out of trouble?" Sheriff Shapiro asks, taking off his sunglasses.

"Yeah," Ryder nods.

Sheriff starts to talk to Deaton, "Hey, listen, while I'm here, do you mind taking a look at those pictures I was telling you about?" Sheriff asks, handing him the evidence envelope. "Sacramento still can't determine an animal."

"I'm not exactly an expert." Deaton says as he takes out the pictures. "This is the guy who was attacked on the bus?"

"Yeah, and we found wolf hairs on Laura Hale's body."

"A wolf...?" Ryder asks, getting into the conversation. "I mean, I read somewhere that wolves haven't been in California for like 60 years."

"True enough, but wolves are highly migratory. They could've wandered in from another state driven by impulse or strong enough memory."

"Wolves have memories?" Ryder asks, walking to the table.

"Longer term memories, yes. If associated with a primal drive. See this one here?" Deaton holds up a picture and points to a mark. "Those are claw marks. A wolf would've gone for the throat or the spinal cord with its teeth."

"So, what do you think, it's a mountain lion?" Sheriff asks.

"I don't know. A wolf could chase down its prey, hobbling it by tearing at the ankles." Ryder suddenly gets a flashback of his "dream". "And then the throat."

_**[Later that Day - Hospital]**_

Ryder arrives at the hospital to deliver a package for his mom. His mom notices him and asks, "Is my beautiful talented, and wonderful son _actually _bring me dinner?"

"I thought you wouldn't mind skipping the cafeteria tonight." He says, leaning on the check-in desk.

"You are the most thoughtful, loving, most conniving little con artist ever." Ryder raised his eyebrow. "You are so not getting the car tonight."

"Mom...!" Ryder started.

"What? There's a curfew, so no car." Melissa looked up and smiled, grabbing the bag of food. "But I will take this." She starts to walk away, but turns back to him. "Love you."

Ryder then started walking to the door, but stopped. He turned around, looking at a door where he smelled a familiar scent. He walks over to it and opens the door. He quietly walks in and shuts it, walking to Mr. Meyers' bedside.

"Mr. Meyers." Ryder started and looked at him with a look of worry. Mr. Meyers' eyes open and he looks at him. "Are you okay?" But Mr. Meyers' doesn't answer, instead he freaks out. He starts groaning and screaming, grabbing Ryder's shirt.

Melissa's voice rings, "What the hell are you doing in here? Get out! Now, go!"

_**[Next Day - Derek's House]**_

The Sheriff's office had dispatched a car to check out Derek Hale's place, however using his werewolf abilities manages to scare off the deputy. As his car pulls away, Ryder appears behind it, looking up at the house.

"I know you can hear me." Ryder said, walking up to the porch. "I need your help."

Soon, the door opens and Derek walks out to the porch. Ryder proceeds to speak, "Okay, I know I was a part of you getting arrested and that we basically announced you being here to the hunters. I also don't know what happened to your sister. But I did something list night, I had a dream about someone, but someone else got hurt and it turns out that part of the dream might've actually happened."

"You think you attacked the driver?" Derek asked.

"Did you see what I did last night?"

"No."

"Can you at least tell me the truth?" Ryder asks. "Am I gonna hurt someone?"

"Yes."

"Could I kill someone?"

"Yes."

"Am I gonna kill someone?"

"You probably will." Ryder's eyes widen and he walks to a wooden post that holds the roof up as Derek continues. "Look, I can show you how to remember. I can show you how to control the shift, even on a full moon. But it's not gonna come for free."

"What do you want?"

"You'll find out. But for now, I'm gonna give you what you want. Go back to the bus, go inside, see it, feel it. Let your senses, your sight, smell, touch...Let them remember for you." He instructed.

"That's it?" Ryder asked. "Just go back?"

"Do you want to know what happened?"

"I just want to know if I hurt him."

"No, you don't." Derek responded. "You want to know if you'll hurt _her_."

_**[School]**_

Later that evening, Ryder and Robbie drive up to the school. They get out and Robbie starts to follow Ryder to the gate. "Hey, no, just me." Ryder stopped him. "Someone needs to keep watch."

"How come I'm always the guy keeping watch?"

"Well, because there are only two of us."

"Okay, why's it starting to feel like you're Batman and I'm Robin?" Robbie asked loudly. "I don't want to be Robin all the time."

"No one is Batman and Robin any of the time." Ryder responds.

"Not even some of the time?" He asks, scoffing.

"Just stay here." Ryder orders.

"Oh my god...!" Robbie shouted, starting to walk back to his jeep. Ryder starts climbing the gate and jumps when he gets to the top. He makes his way to the bus and went in.

He walked down the bus and touches every sign of blood on it. He gets a flashback of someone tearing one of the seats and throwing it to the front. Ryder took his hand off of the seat and starts having other visions.

Robbie sees a light floating in the air and sits up straight. The light shines through the windows of the bus, but Ryder isn't seen. He sneaks out and runs to Robbie's car.

"Go! Go! Go! Go!" Ryder shouts, jumping in.

"Did it work?" Robbie asked as he drives. "Did you remember?"

"Yeah, I was there last night and the blood...a lot of it is mine."

"So you did attack him?"

"No, I saw glowing eyes in the bus, but they weren't mine. It was Derek."

Robbie asks, "What about the driver?"

"I think I was actually trying to protect him."

"Wait, why would Derek help you remember that he attacked the driver?"

Ryder stammers to answer his question. "That's what I don't get."

"That's gotta be a pack thing."

"What do you mean?" Ryder asked.

"Like an initiation, you do the kill together."

"Yeah, because ripping someone's throat out is a real bonding experience?" Ryder asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, but you didn't do it, which means you're not a killer. And it also means that..."

Ryder gets excited and finishes for him, "I can go out with Jade."

"I was gonna say it means you won't kill me."

"Oh yeah," Ryder paused. "That too..."

_**[Jade's House]**_

Jade opens her bedroom closet and picks out something to wear for the date. She smirks and grabs a black shirt with dark roses. She turns around and faces Cat.

"Mm, pass." Cat says, sitting on the bed. Jade turns back to her closet and picks out a different shirt. It's orange, white, and green and has a little bit of forest green. "Pass." Jade groans in frustration as Cat gets up and walks to Jade's closet. "Let me see."

"Pass...Pass...Ugh, pass on all of it." Cat says. "Jade, respect for you taste is, uh, dwindling by the second." She stokes Jade's hair. She laughs and turns back to the closet.

"Hmm..." She finds a shirt and picks it up. She examines it for a second. "This." Cat has a black and shiny shirt in her hand. Jade holds it up to her chest and her dad comes in, putting on his jacket.

"Dad, hello..." Jade greets her, emotionless. Mr. West looks up at her and smiles, then he remembers what he was gonna say.

"Right, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I completely forgot to knock."

"Hi, Mr. West." Cat greets, plopping down on Jade's bed, resting her head on her hand, putting her other hand on her hip.

Jade asks, "Dad, do you need something?"

"I wanted to tell you that you'll be staying in tonight."

"What?" Jade asks. "I'm going out with my friends tonight."

"Not when some animal out there is attacking people." He sneers.

"Dad, dad, I'm...uh..."

"It's out of my hand. There's a curfew. No one's allowed out past 9:30p.m." Mr. West interrupts her. "Hey, no more arguing." Mr. West says as Jade throws her shirt on the bed. Jade sighs and crosses her arms over her chest. Mr. West walks out of the room.

"Hmph..." Cat says, getting up. "Someone's daddy's little girl."

"I am sometimes, but not tonight." Cat was surprised that came out of Jade. Jade walks to the window and pulls the curtains back, opening the window. As Jade walks out onto the roof, Cat ran to the window and poked her head out.

"What are you doing?" Cat asked.

Jade jumped down and then looked up at her. "Eight years of gymnastics. Are you coming?" Jade whispered.

"I'll take the stairs."

_**[Bowling Alley]**_

Cat and Andre are tying their bowling shoes and Jade and Ryder are picking out a ball. "You look like you know what you're doing." Ryder says, watching as Jade puts a large blue ball down.

"I used to bowl with my dad." Jade said. "When was the last time you bowled?"

"Uh, at a birthday party..." Ryder said. Jade picks up a ball and then walks to the table to see Andre's arm around Cat. Ryder whispers, "...when I was eight."

Cat stands in front of the bowling alley and Andre comes up behind her. She enjoyed this moment for a second then got ready to bowl. Andre helps her, but misses. They give it another try and knock down 3 pins. Cat gets mad, "I'm so bad at this."

They walk back to the bench and sit down. Jade picks up a purple ball and bowls, striking. Ryder smiles at how good she was as she comes back to the bench. "Somebody brought their A-game." Cat says as Jade took a seat.

Soon, Andre is up and strikes, "Whoo, yes!" Cat cheers.

"You're up, Daniels." Andre says, sitting back down and putting his arm around Cat.

"You can do it, Ryder." Jade encouraged him, nudging him to get up. He grabs the ball and walks to the row for Jade, Andre, Cat, and him.

He sighs and prepares for failure. The ball goes into the gutter and Andre suddenly laughs. "Andre? Do you mind shutting up?" Jade asked as Cat tried to hold in a laugh.

"I'm sorry. I'm just flashing back to the words 'I'm a great bowler'."

"Maybe he just needs a little warm up." Jade suggests.

"Yeah, maybe he just needs the kiddy bumpers." Andre says and they both start laughing, earning a glare from Jade.

"Just...just aim for the middle." Jade instructs Ryder as he grabs another ball.

Andre suggests, "How aim for anything except for the gutter?"

Jade scowls at them, "Let him concentrate."

"Come on, just one pin, please." Ryder prays with a deep sigh and looks up at the heavens. He rolls the ball onto the ground and when it's about to hit a pin, the ball decides to go for the gutter.

Andre starts laughing again, but Cat tries to get him to stop. "Great job, Daniels." Andre teased, watching as Ryder sat on the bench. "Man, you're a pro."

"Don't worry. We only just started." Jade said, putting her hair behind her ear.

Soon, it's Ryder's turn again and he dreads it. Jade hesitates to get up and walk to him. She finally decides to and heads toward him. "Ryder, you're thinking too much." She says.

"I know, I'm sorry," Ryder apologized. "I'm ruining this."

"No, no, not at all, but I wouldn't mind shutting them up so just clear your head and think about something else." Jade whispers a few pioneers in her ear. "Think about me..." She starts to walk away, but comes back and whispers, "Naked." She then walks to the bench and sits down.

Ryder's werewolf senses kick in and his vision turns red. He must've been thinking hard, because he got a strike. Jade laughs and Cat turns to her with a serious look and asks, "What did you tell him?"

"Uh, I just gave him something to think about." Jade says as Ryder comes back to the bench and sits down.

_**[Gas Station]**_

Derek pulls up in his car and gets out. He puts the gas tank in the gas holder beside his car. Two cars pull up in front and behind them. Mr. West gets out and straightens his jacket. The gas pump beeps and two hunters come out of the car. Derek looks at them and takes the gas pump out.

"Nice ride." Mr. West starts, walking over to the car. "Although, black cars are very hard to keep clean that I would definitely suggest a little more maintenance. If you have something this nice, you want to take care of it right?" He grabs a screen sweeper and cleans the back of the car's window. "Personally, I'm very protective of the things I love. But that's something I learned from my family. And you don't have much of that these days. Do you?"

Derek clenches his fist. "There we go." Mr. West said, seeing Derek make his hand into a fist. He put the sweeper down into the bin. "You can actually see through your windshield now. See how that makes everything so much clearer?" He starts walking to his car when Derek speaks up.

"You forgot to check the oil."

Mr. West turns around. "Check the man's oil." One of the hunters walks to the side of the car and smashes the window.

"It looks good to me."

"Drive safely." Mr. West leaves and so do the other hunters.

_**[Bowling Alley]**_

Ryder is getting better at bowling and Jade, Cat, and Andre can't believe it. Jade laughs in amazement as Ryder score another strike.

"That is seriously amazing." Jade says. She turns to Andre. "Andre, uh, how many strikes is that?"

"It's six in a row." Cat laughs and turns to Jade and Ryder.

"Something just clicked, I guess." Ryder speaks as Cat stands up and places her hand on her arm.

"Maybe it's natural talent." Jade suggested.

Cat is the next one to speak, "I could use some natural talent. You mind helping me out this time, Ryder?" Cat asks.

"No, you're good. Go for it."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Cat says, walking to the row of balls.

"Hey, I'll help." Andre says, getting up.

"How about I just try this on my own?" Cat asked and Andre took that as a signal to sit down. Cat shoots the ball onto the ground and it rolls to the pins, earning her a strike. She punches the air and turns around.

"I think I'm getting the hang of it." Cat says once she sits down.

"That was sort of perfect form." Jade commented in disbelief.

Cat asks, "Was it?"

Jade leans toward her, signaling a whisper so Cat leans in forward to. Jade whispers, "Maybe you should stop pretending to suck just for his benefit."

"Trust me; I do plenty of sucking just for his benefit." Cat says. She motions her eyebrows as the two girls pull away. "Andre." She says, looking back at him and sees that he's glaring angrily.

"What?"

"I don't like your look."

"I don't care." He responds, arms crossed over his chest.

She sits up straight, leaning over him and whispers, "Can you at least attempt to have a good time, please?"

Cat looks at her, "Can you not invite me out with your lame friends?"

"Okay, then." They don't notice Jade and Ryder look at each other awkwardly. "And try not to hurt your wrist out there. You are definitely gonna need it tonight."

"At least I have a tight grip."

Cat rolls her eyes and slaps him on the leg, "Let's start a new game, okay? I'll go first." She jumps up and walks away to grab another ball. She strikes once again.

When their date comes to a close, Jade and Cat are taking their bowling shoes off and putting on their normal shoes while Andre is playing at a game machine. Ryder comes over and watches.

"Nice shot, man." He compliments Andre; Andre just glares at him. "Listen, I know we both didn't want to be here. But the thing is we don't have to hate each other.

Andre looks up at him. "I don't hate you. I just don't believe you. You know, you got everyone thinking everything's fine and normal about you, but I know something's off. You cheated tonight."

"How do you cheat at bowling?"

"I don't know, but you did. And I don't know if it's steroids or something weirder. I'm guessing weirder since it's pretty obvious you're a freak. So don't think for a second I've given up on finding out what your little secret is."

"I don't have any secrets." Ryder lied.

"Yeah, you do, and here's the other thing. I don't know why, but I think whatever you're hiding, you don't want her to find out about it either." Andre looks at Jade. The bell from the machine starts ringing.

_**[Hospital]**_

Derek walks into Mr. Meyers' hospital room. "Open your eyes." Derek orders. Mr. Meyers' eyes open and he look at the ceiling. "Look at me"

"What do you remember?" Derek asked.

"Hale." Mr. Meyers' suddenly says, making Derek confused.

"How do you know my name?"

"I'm sorry."

"How do you know me?"

"I'm sorry."

_**[Hospital Hallway]**_

"Girl, I'm outta here." Melissa says, walking out of a room. "There's a full DVR of unwatched television waiting to remind me how ridiculously single I really am." She grabs her jacket, purse, and keys.

When she walks to her desk, she sees an alert flashing on her screen. "Rose, call a code, Room 13." She runs to Mr. Meyer's room and walks in to see no Derek and Mr. Meyers is dead.

_**[Jade's Porch]**_

Ryder and Jade walk to her porch and start to chat. "So, uh, do you think we could hang out again soon?" Ryder asked.

"Absolutely." Jade responded. "But I have to admit something. Um, I'm not big on group dates. So next time, just the two of us."

Ryder sighs with relief, "I could totally handle more of that."

"Great." Jade says, giving him a kiss.

"Jade?" He stops her by grabbing her hand when she walks to the door. Ryder brings her back to him and pulls her into a soft, sweet kiss.

Jade pulls away and bites her lip. "And I could handle more of that." Ryder smiles and walks off. Mr. West appears to have been watching the whole time.

_**[Beck's Room**_

Melissa walks down the hall upstairs to Ryder's room and his lights are off. When she turns away, she hears someone come in from his window and sees a figure jumping on his bed. She walks in and grabs a bat. She turns on the light to see Robbie and they scream.

Shouting, Melissa asks, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"What am I doing?" Robbie asked. "God, do either of you even play baseball?"

"What?" Ryder comes in.

"Can you please tell you friend to use the front door?" Melissa asks.

"But we lock the front door; he wouldn't be able to get in."

"Yeah, exactly, and by the way, do any of you care that there's a police enforced curfew?

"No." Robbie and Ryder say at the same time.

"No. Alright then, well, you know what?" Melissa tosses the bat on the bed. "That's enough parenting for me for one night, so good night." Melissa walks out. Robbie sighs and looks at Ryder.

"What?" Ryder asked, sensing something was wrong.

"My dad left for the hospital fifteen minutes ago. It's the bus driver; they said he succumbed to his wounds."

"Succumbed...?"

"Ryder, he's dead." Robbie says abruptly.

_**[Derek's House]**_

Ryder arrives at Derek's house and walks in. "Derek, I know you're here!" Ryder shouted, walking slowly up the stairs. "I know what you did!"

"I didn't do anything." Derek's voice boomed, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Ryder exclaims, "You killed him!"

"He died."

"Like your sister died?"

"My sister was missing; I came here looking for her."

"You found her." Ryder said.

"I found her in pieces being used as bait to catch me."

"I think you killed them both. I'm gonna tell everyone, starting with the Sheriff." When he reaches the top of the stairs, Ryder comes out of nowhere and throws Ryder down the stairs. Ryder gets up, in werewolf form, and roars. Derek jumps from the top to the bottom and lands on his feet. Before Derek could reach, Ryder throws him in some scaffolding, causing him to fall into another rom.

"Huh. That was cute." Derek says sarcastically then pops his neck, causing him to shift. Ryder runs into the room where Ryder is. Ryder throws him against the ground, chocking him. When the fight end, Ryder sits in a chair, panting.

"I didn't kill him." Derek starts. "Neither of us did. It's not your fault and it's not mine."

"This? This is your entire fault!" Ryder shouted, getting up. "You ruined my life!"

"No, I didn't."

"You're the one who bit me."

"No, I'm not."

Ryder asks, "What?"

"I'm not the one that bit you." Ryder feels the scars on his chest and gets more flashbacks. He sits down on the chair and looks Derek.

"There's another."

"It's called an alpha. It's the most dangerous of our kind. You and I; we're betas. This thing is more powerful, more animal than either of us. My sister came here looking for him. Now, I'm trying to find him, but I don't think I can do it with you."

"Why can't you do it without me, exactly?"

"Because he's the one who bit you and you're part of his pack. It's you, Ryder. You're the one he wants."

Right outside, the alpha is peering in the woods, standing outside of the house.


End file.
